Chavan to face people on Facebook

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is smiling on a new territory, social networking site Facebook &ndash, an official said here Saturday.

Through Facebook, an attempt will be made to bring the technocrat-turned-politician's achievements and governance directly to the people and seek their comments and suggestions, the official said.

Though he went online last week during the relief operations in Uttarakhand, the government waited for the public response before announcing the initiative.

"We were truly overwhelmed by the response in the past one week and decided to officially announce it today," the official told IANS.

A team of officials from the state's IT department and the chief minister's office will regularly monitor Chavan's Facebook account - https://www.facebook.com/PrithvirajChavan.Official - and keep him updatedupdated on the reactions and comments posted by the people.

"Whenever possible, we shall reply on his behalf and draw his attention to important issues. However, it is not intended to serve as a complaint box but more as a tool to interact with the general public," the official explained.

A modest beginning has been made with a smiling picture of Chavan, his recent rescue efforts in Uttarakhand, some important public engagements and policy announcements.

Prominent chief ministers on Facebook include Kerala's Oomen Chandy and Gujarat's Narendra Modi.