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Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has received a record 9,116 petitions at his visitors' centre at the Secretariat, which started functioning a year ago.
The visitors' centre was open for 134 days when Chandy was at Thiruvananthapuram, the chief minister's office informed.
An average of 70 people come to the centre daily with their petitions. Normally, the chief minister will be at Thiruvananthapuram from Monday to Thursday, and he will reach the visitors' centre on these days at 3 pm. Chandy has received 428 petitions directly in September.
There are other mechanisms in the Secretariat like Public Grievance Reddressel Cell, 24X7 call centre and Sutharya Keralam to resolve the petitions of people. But, petitions can be resolved quickly through the visitors centre. After receiving the petition, it will be registered, digitally recorded and will be handed to the petitioner.
The petitioner can directly hand it over to the official concerned. By doing so, the delay can be avoided. If certain petitions need immediate attention, the chief minister himself gives directions to the officials.
It was due to the security reasons that the visitors' centre was opened for receiving petitions, which otherwise was done at his office. The centre, which was opened on October 11 last year, is open only on days when the chief minister is at Thiruvananthapuram.
