Improving grievance redressal mechanism
Every other day the government issues statements about the number of complaints received by various departmental heads and grievance sections set up by the government against various government departments. We also get the number of complaints resolved and an impression is given that the grievance redressal mechanism is working with utmost perfection and commitment.
But what is actually happening on ground is totally opposite to the views reflected by the government. Just few days back a medico friend has some issue which he wanted to get registered at the governments designated grievance cell.
It took the medico more than three weeks to get in touch with a person at Rajbhawan who ultimately led him to register his complaint with one of the advisors in Srinagar. What has surprised the medico is that it took two more weeks for fixing an appointment with the advisor and the meeting unfortunately did not last for more than a few seconds. Though, the response, as promised to him is still awaited, the fact tells us how the grievance redressal mechanism is functioning right now.
The issue has assumed such mammoth proportions that the governorís administration has censured administrative heads of the departments for their cold response to complaints received by governorís grievance cell, expressing dismay at their callous approach.
Though the redressal mechanism should have been much robust and forthcoming the issue has not been on the priority list of the government so far.
Since June, after the PDP and BJP severed ties, the governorís grievance cell has received 39284 complaints of which 38228 have been dealt with or forwarded to the concerned quarters for timely redressal. Around 640 complaints and grievances received from a cross section of the society are under process.
At times, governor secretariat or the GCC seeks immediate response from the departments in the context of specific grievances/ complaints received by it. But it has been observed that notwithstanding the instructions issued for the disposal of grievances from time to time, certain departments /offices furnish the action taken report/response to the Governorís grievance cell or governorís secretariat belatedly, thereby defeating the concept of prompt service delivery and grievance redressal mechanism.
The Governorís office has recently issued directions to all heads of departments to ensure speedy disposal of the grievances and to comply with the instructions to ensure that the grievances are attended to.
But so far the issue has not been taken up so seriously as the number of cases that have actually been redressed and sorted have been very few. This non-serious attitude on the part of the officials is telling upon the functioning of the entire administration and this type of functioning does not augur well with the needs of the people.
The administration should be more responsive and open to the needs of the people as the grievances against the public delivery systems is increasing with every passing day.
KV Network
