The recent circular issued by the government that called for ban on holding meetings and conferences at private hotels and asked for utilising government buildings and premises instead is a welcome step and the need of the hour given the dearth of government funds. The move will indeed help the government a long way in saving money. The government also discouraged holding of exhibitions, fairs, seminars and conferences outside the state except for promotion of tourism and handicrafts, and in this too, the officers should travel only by economy class within the country, regardless of the entitlement; and in all cases of air travel, the lowest air fare ticket available for entitled class is to be purchased. Use of facility of video-conferencing effectively has been stressed to avoid travel for this purpose as much as possible. It is believed that the direction in this regard has come from Centre which also faces dearth of money. The issuance of the government circular would affect higher officials not the lower rung officials and authorities should now ensure the former implements the order in letter and spirit. There have been protests by several sections of society complaining of non-payment of money by government. The recent demonstration by construction contractors against non-payment of crores of ruppes by government is an example. Several government employees are also facing tough times in getting GP funds and we hope this austerity card played by government becomes instrumental in mitigating the people’s sufferings and overcome all these issues.
