Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will no longer hold the monthly Janta Darbar, a sort of an open house, where he would listen to the grievances of people from all across the state. The term literally means 'People's court'.
Fadnavis decided to put an end the practice as he noticed that at least six out of 10 complainants he met at these darbars would come to him often.
Janta Darbar was started by late chief minister A R Antulay, who styled it on the concept birthed by 17th century Maratha king Shivaji where common folk could request his intervention. Antulay's successor, Sharad Pawar found the darbar too royal for his style of functioning, and diluted it a bit. Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi revived the concept as Sena derives its name from the Chhtrapati. His successor, Narayan Rane, believed the concept meant that the administration wasn't working.
Congress chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde barely held it.
Now Fadnavis has decided to do away with it altogether.
"I have decided to scrap it as it has become meaningless," he said. "I am getting most complaints resolved online. I will continue to meet people once they are vetted by the system and are found to have grievances that genuinely need my intervention."
Fadnavis clarified that though Janta Darbar has ended, it doesn't mean he will abandon all contact with the common folk. "Lokshahi Din hearings will continue as usual," he said. "We have also created the Aaple Sarkar portal where people can and do register their grievances. So far, over one crore people have used the service and are satisfied with it. The portal was also given an award for being a great digital initiative by the government of India."
