A harassed blind man was catalyst for new bill

BANGALORE: “In my nearly four-decade-long political career, I would consider this day as a historic one,” a visibly emotional Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar said, while emerging out of the Assembly after the Bill on Karnataka Citizens Services Act was passed unanimously.Kumar, who piloted the bill, aimed at making the day-to-day governance people-friendly and said that his next challenge is to ensure its effective implementation. “I have had extensive discussions with government officers of various rungs before getting the Bill into the Assembly. I am confident that the Bill will be welcomed by everybody. I don’t think the bureaucracy at the lower-level has any objection to the Act,” Suresh Kumar said, in response to a question whether officials would welcome the move, as it amounts to meeting deadlines in providing services to people. Suresh Kumar said, “I would not say this proposed Act is the ultimate in making the government service easily available to the common man without any hitch. There can be a better instrument also, but presently, this Bill is a sure and definite leap towards sensitising the bureaucracy.” “A blind man who came to me and complained that the tahsildar was asking for `500 to give him his pension. This was the main factor behind envisaging the bill,” the minister explained.