Right to services named 'Sakala'

The State government has named its ambitious programme to provide various services to citizens within stipulated time ‘Sakala’ (right time), which is scheduled to be launched on a pilot basis in five districts in the State, including Bangalore, on Thursday.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters on Wednesday that Sakala would go with the slogan “Indu nale innila, helida samaya (dina) tappolla.” The logo with the hammer of justice and a clock, depicting that justice will be provided in time, was also unveiled.

The pilot programme is set to be launched at Jayanagar in Bangalore, Bidar, Chitradurga, Dharwad and Mangalore. Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda is scheduled to launch the programme in Jayanagar at 4 pm.

Statewide on April 2
The respective district in-charge Ministers will launch the programme in other parts of the State, Kumar said. The government plans a Statewide launch of Sakala on April 2.

Kumar said people in these places can get almost all listed services of 11 departments within stipulated time. As many as 151 services have been listed by the government under ‘Sakala’. It has fixed time limits for providing each of these services.

A notice board will be put up at all government offices, educating people on various aspects of the programme.

For instance, information on the designated officer and the procedure to file complaints will be made available on the notice board. “We are aware that people are very curious about the programme. Some are even doubtful about its success. The government will closely monitor the pilot programme for one month from Thursday. Loopholes, if any, will be addressed before launching it Statewide,” he added.

Prize winners
The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms had organised a competition to select the name, logo and slogan. Of the 1,506 proposals received for the name, three of them (Vinay Kumar, H Suresh, both from Bangalore, N Harish Kumar from Mysore) had proposed the name Sakala, which has been selected. The cash prize of Rs 30,000 will be distributed among all the three winners.

For the logo, 710 proposals were received and the proposal of Balaswamy, a resident of Mysore, has been selected. He will get a cash prize of Rs 50,000.

For the slogan, 1,095 proposals were received. The one by Amogha Varsha of Bangalore has been selected. He will receive a prize of Rs 30,000, the minister said.