Minister for Local Administration K.T. Jaleel has directed the Fire and Rescue Services Department to submit a new proposal about the possibility of expanding its Community Rescue Volunteers (CRV) scheme to all grama panchayats in the State.
The Minister, who expressed interest in the scheme while its district-level launch at Kakkodi panchayat on Friday, said it could be considered for inclusion in the next drought project for local bodies, and thus enabling them to spend a special fund for speedy implementation.
“Saving lives in disaster areas is a noble deed and no one can actually weigh the merit of such a service,” said Mr. Jaleel while announcing his plan for the Statewide rollout of the CRV scheme. He also observed that the village-level reach of the scheme would help rescue operators manage crisis in remote areas more effectively.
New initiatives
Explaining the new initiatives of the State government to streamline the local body administration, Mr. Jaleel said there would be no more incidents in Kerala, in which people were being compelled to visit panchayat offices frequently for getting their grievances addressed. He also called for the optimum use of complaint boxes in panchayat offices.
“Officers whose performance is rated as poor for three consecutive times by local bodies will be terminated from the service,” said Mr. Jaleel. He also called upon people’s representatives to intervene if a person was found visiting panchayat offices more than three times for settling his grievance.
The CRV scheme was launched by the Minister by dousing fire using a fire extinguisher.
Fire and Rescue Services Department officers said the panchayat-level CRV team was formed with the support of 105 trained persons. Five members from each of the 21 wards were selected for the purpose, they said.
A.K. Saseendran, MLA, chaired the inaugural event. Assistant Divisional Officer of the Fire and Rescue Services Department Arun Bhaskar and Kakkodi grama panchayat president M. Rajendran were present.