While the chief minister and the ministers visited ongoing development work under their respective departments for 49 times, they attended government and non-government functions as chief guests and guests of honour for a whooping 468 times during December one, 2010 to November 30, 2011.
Prism recorded the activities of the Chief Minister, ministers and parliamentary secretaries, based on government press releases, during the last eleven months and compiled them in a booklet Zopui which was released here yesterday.
According to the booklet, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla topped the list by attending functions as chief guest for 94 times. He was followed by Education Minister Lalsawta for 43 times. Art, Culture and Transport Minister P C Zoramsangliana was 'an honourable chief guest' for 36 times.
Parliamentary Secretary to the chief minister, Lal Thanzara, the second-most important man in the Congress Ministry, attended function as chief guests for more than most of the senior Cabinet ministers, chief-guesting for 31 times.
Among the ministers, Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana was number one when it comes to accompanying the chief minister or receiving him at the airport.
He did either of the two for 10 times, followed by parliamentary secretary H Zothangliana, accompanying or receiving the CM for nine times.
Since some programmes of the ministers were missed out in the government press releases, Prism pointed out that the actual number of times the ministers attended functions as chief guests could be much higher.
''If they (the chief minister and the ministers) had given more importance to visiting project sites or sitting in their offices, development would have been much faster,'' commented Prism president Vanlalruata.
During a discussion on the activities of the public servants, most of the participants felt this was due to the politicians’ thirst for publicity.
A few of them justified it as it gives an opportunity to highlight the government’s programmes, policies and achievements.
Regarding their tours to the rural areas, some participants said rural tours were necessary as they came into contact with the rural people for whom traveling to Aizawl was financially not viable.
However, some also argued that even if the ministers went to the villages, those they actually interacted with, were party workers.
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