Tamil Nadu ropes in mixed bag of experts for advisory panels

Interestingly, this strategy is slowly being adopted by other government departments with TN forming statutory and advisory committees at different levels by roping in non-government experts from different walks of life. “The State government which is slowly resuming normal activities after the lockdown is in the process of forming several advisory committees and mandatory committees. More than a dozen government orders and gazette notifications have been released from departments like planning, tourism, energy, finance, forest and health,” an official said.

According to Secretariat sources, these committees will start meeting regularly and pass their recommendations to revitalise various government sectors.

The Tourism Department, which had also formed an expert panel comprising leading hoteliers and travel experts, has started holding meetings. The panel has started working on strategies and tour events to attract investment.

The Forest Department, which formed a committee last month to study the spread of coronavirus among wild animals, has now formed another think tank cell to research man-animal conflicts.

The State Energy Department also released a gazette notification for new members in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC). “The TNERC committee is mandatory as per the TNEB Act. The committee will recommend steps that will help industries recover and sort out issues,” said TN Spinning Mills Association president K Venkatachalam, newly appointed as TNERC member representing Industries. The State has also roped in entrepreneur KE Raghunathan as a TNERC member to represent micro, small and medium enterprises.