Terming sincerity and commitment of public servants towards the welfare of people as prerequisites for good governance, Upalokayukta K.N. Phaneendra has asked government employees to be pro-people while discharging their duties.
“There are around seven crore people in Karnataka. Only five lakh of them, which accounts for just 1% of the total population, are government employees. The dignity of the government largely depends upon them. The government’s initiatives for the welfare of the people and the development of the State can be successful only when the public servants work well with commitment and sincerity,” he said, after inaugurating an awareness programme on the role of Lokayukta and Legal Services Authority in good public administration held at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
“Judiciary, Legal Services Authority and Lokayukta play a key role in delivering justice and curbing corruption in the State. Good governance can become possible only when these institutions serve as the watchdogs of democracy in the State. They need to keep a watch on the goings-on daily to see whether or not development initiatives are being properly implemented,” he said.
Putting the definition of corruption in a wider perspective, Mr. Phaneendra said that nepotism, dereliction of duty, lobbying and failing to discharge duties are different forms of corruption.
“If a victim or beneficiary doesn’t get the rightful relief and on time, he may tend to take an undesirable path and turn into an anti-social element. We should not allow that to happen. As Swamy Vivekananda had said, it doesn’t matter if you could not contribute to the development of the country but you must, at least, develop honesty, sincerity and truthfulness as a citizen of the country,” he said.
Principal District and Sessions Judge S. Nagashree, who is president of Kalaburagi District Legal Services Authority, termed corruption as a social evil and stressed the need for a collective fight to eliminate it.
Senior judges Hemavathi, Mohan Badagandi and Srinivas Navale, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police John Antony and other senior officers were present.
