THEKKADY: Saturdays are going to be different for forest officials in Kerala.In a unique initiative aimed at bringing in a major change in the functioning and system of forest officials in Kerala, the Forest Department is all set to launch a novel initiative - Project Saturday.It envisages a system where forest officials in the state, right from the DFO (Divisional Forest Officer), will utilise half the time for office cleaning and file clearing.“On Saturdays by 1 pm, the officials should complete all their day’s work. In the afternoon, all officials right from the DFO to the lowest rank staff, will be engaged in cleaning the office premises and creating a proper file system. They will also keep the files in the appropriate manner. By 1 pm they should send a report to the CCF (Administration) about the work done on that day. It could be one file or even no file. This will be implemented soon,” said Forest Minister K B Ganesh Kumar on the sidelines of ‘Ecologue,’ an annual workshop organised by the Jaiji Peter Foundation in association with the Forest Department at Thekkady on Monday.The Forest Department is also planning to have a system to monitor the proper functioning of the new project. The DFOs have been asked to send photographs of the check-posts and stations under them to forest headquarters.One CCF (Chief Conservator of Forest) will visit and inspect the premises on a regular basis to make sure that the system works in a proper manner. “If the officials want to beautify the office premises by painting, the needed fund would be allocated. On the basis of regular inspections, a couple of officials will be given awards. They will be given Good Service Entry also,” said the Minister.Though it’s called ‘Project Saturday,’ it has not been named so far.The concept has been discussed in the weekly meeting of top forest officials with the Minister, said Rajaraja Varma, Principal CCF and head of forest forces in the state.“The concept was discussed and a decision has been made to implement it also.This will bring in a systematic atmosphere in forest offices. This will make file transfers easier,” he pointed out.The department has also decided to address all service- related issues of forest officials, said Ganesh Kumar.“All forest officials can directly send their service-related issues and complaints directly to my Secretary. All such issues would be addressed. We were successful in addressing more than 200 of the total 283 pension cases of retired forest officials after this government took charge,” he said.
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