Khattar logs on to Twitter for Q&A with people
Haryana chief minister’s aides put the number of questions at more than 700; he chose to reply later
CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar logged on to Twitter — microblogging website — on Thursday to address complaints of twitterers and share his governance mantras.
Khattar, who answered queries through his official handle, received a stream of questions, grievances and lamentations, besides angry comments from some people. While his aides put the number of questions at over 700, the CM, who had his principal secretary RK Khullar by his side, gave replies to over 110 questions.
The Twitter chat, the second such social media interface by the CM, was not live, unlike similar interactions held by other politicians. Instead of live chat, he opted for a nonlive route, addressing queries and complaints hours after the scheduled time for posting questions. The first such interaction was held in January this year.
Khattar had post a tweet on Wednesday night that he will take questions on Twitter between 10 am and 11 am on Thursday with the #ManoKeMukhSe. “As it is a non-live session, I will answer as many questions as possible later today (Thursday),” he tweeted. The response was enthusiastic with queries, suggestions and digs regarding the working of his government.
Though several twitterers lauded his initiative, asking him to tell his ministers to follow suit, there were a few who used the opportunity to just greet the chief minister.
A majority of questions and grievances of the people pertained inadequacies and false promises of builders and colonisers, steep hike in schools fee (especially in Gurgaon and Faridabad), inadequate number of teachers, filth, slush and dilapidated lanes in villages, removal of 2,600 computer teachers from job, erratic power supply and disparity in the salaries of nurses of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and other institutions.
While the CM mostly gave one-line replies, he also asked some people to get in touch with officials such as superintendents of police and deputy commissioners directly, posting their mobile numbers. However, not everyone seemed pleased with the non-live session.
A tweeter with the handle @ DhakkadTau was probably the first to react to Khattar’s preference for non-live course. “It would have been better to tell all that it was not going to be live session. A fewer questions on #ManoKeMukhSe’ shows there are not many takers for it,” he added.
While most twitterers addressed Khattar as sir, CM sir, dear CM or even mukhyamantri sahibji, Sher Singh Malik Insha began his query with ‘he maa bharati ke spoot’ (good son of mother India). He wanted to know why 2,600 computer teachers’ jobs were taken away.
Another hasthag, #BehalHaryana, was created, in probability by his detractors, to highlight the shortcomings in governance and saw tweets, mostly adverse, on the working of the state government. SEPARATE DEPARTMENT FOR EX-SERVICEMEN’S WELFARE: HARYANA CM
The Haryana government will set up a separate department for the welfare of ex-servicemen in the state soon. The assurance was given by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar while responding to a tweet Thursday.
It was a question of Jayram Viplav, who through Twitter asked Khattar if the state government had any special scheme for ex-servicemen as Haryana had a huge population of defense personnel. Khattar in his response, said: “You will soon have a new department in the Govt of Haryana for the welfare of ex-serviceman!”
In response to a tweet concerning the declining status of Kurukshetra University, he said a committee had been set up to improve the academic standards in all universities of the state. The report is expected in about three months.
To another query regarding the commencement of the Smart Grid Project in Gurgaon, the CM responded that the first phase will be completed in one year. “I have issued instructions to reduce the period of the second phase of three years to two years,” he added.