Chennai: Social media and WhatsApp are now part of the technical knowledge that a government official needs to possess, particularly IAS officers, donning the role of district collectors and engineers handling a technical crisis during a deluge.
Collectors and top IAS officers in the state have formed WhatsApp and social media groups to watch the monsoon arrangements and its impact this season.
“The idea was mooted by the revenue secretary and the entire monsoon-related data, like lake levels, daily discharge of water, both inflow and outflow, are now recorded with photographs and sent to the group on a daily basis,” explained PWD secretary M. Sai Kumar.
Within the state PWD, four WhatsApp groups, comprising engineers, manning the dams and reservoirs, had been formed. “For Mullaiper iyar and Vaigai dams, we have an active group and there is also a group focusing on the Cauvery delta region. And for Chennai reservoirs, there is a group too,” the official said.
“Pictures of damaged crops, battered roads, brimming lakes are common in the group and all the 32 district collectors are members and it helps the officers to save time and reduce paper work,” said revenue secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi.
Besides depending on the Regional Meteorological Centre for a weather update, they also interacted with private bloggers following weather updates. “It helps to reap the extra inputs related to rainfall pertaining to a particular region,” he said.
In the meantime, the new chief electoral officer Sandeep Saxena has also formed a WhatsApp group, comprising officials attached to the public elections department.
It may be noted that former CEO Praveen Kumar also maintained a similar group and added a few journalists to it for feedback.
He also explained that the move would improve transparency and help the media know more about the Election Commission’s routine.
