Grievance redressal a phone call away

Tirupati, June 29: Manjusha of Kennedy Nagar was surprised when the municipal corporation workers came to her street to catch stray dogs, promptly responding to her complaint. In fact, she half-heartedly dialled 103 and complained to the Tirupati Municipal Corporation call centre about the stray dog menace in her locality as her school going children got scared of them.

Talking to ‘Express’, Manjusha, who is running an NGO, said: “Despite some resistance from a few residents, the TMC workers caught all the stray dogs in the locality in two days. Now, my children are moving in the locality freely without any fear. What impressed me most was the official concerned called up twice to get confirmed whether my problem was solved or not.’’ It is not only Manjusha, there are a few thousand more denizens in the temple town whose grievances pertaining to civic amenities were promptly redressed during the last 15 months through the fast-track system launched in March 2008.

K Srinivasan, a lecturer of Thathaigunta, was greatly concerned when overflowing drain water entered his premises. He contacted the 103 Service on the suggestion of a friend. An hour later, he heaved a sigh of relief as the corporation workers cleared the choked drain. Fused streetlights in VR Colony were promptly replaced soon after making a complaint by SK Basha.

Municipal Commissioner P Mohan Reddy said: “First, I introduced ‘Dial Your Commissioner’ soon after assuming office in February 2008 for the speedy redressal of people’s grievances. Later, a more comprehensive complaint redressal mechanism `103 Service’ was introduced to receive complaints from people pertaining to civic amenities on phone from 10 am to 5 pm everyday.’’ In the beginning, two to three phone calls were received a day. But now the service is handling 20 to 25 calls a day pertaining to various civic issues. About 4,000 grievances have been redressed so far through the two systems. The complaints along with the action taken report are placed on the TMC website.

The innovative system which helped promote transparency and accountability in the civic administration, had drawn the attention of Principal Secretary Pushpa Subramanyam, who sought a report on the 103 Service to emulate it in other towns.

–Agencies–