Gujarat Congress launches helpline for citizens to voice their woes

Gujarat Congress is nothing if not aggressive in the countdown to 2012 assembly elections. About six months before the scheduled polls, the Opposition party has launched a toll-free helpline number for citizens to voice their woes. The phone number is 18002005552. Leaders claim this is the first-of-its-kind initiative for a political party in the country.

A phone number, an email id, a Facebook page and their websites are the four mediums through which they will try to connect to the potential voters. Launched for a trial on Wednesday, the initiative was formally launched by AICC in-charge Mohan Prakash on Thursday evening. “The initiative by Modi government is a very half-baked attempt as I can tell by the kind of issues people come to me with as leader of Opposition and what they have to say about the government helpline. This will be a genuine medium for people to voice their concerns,” Shaktisinh Gohil said.

Chairman of information technology cell Rohan Gupta said that they had already received four complaints on phone within 14 hours of launch and about 15 emails and voice messages.

Retired IAS officer RR Mehta has recently joined as convener for the project. “The issues that people bring to our notice will provide very important fodder for our manifesto. We will also present it to the respective authorities for a solution. For instance, someone complained that Jantri rates are very high, so we will bring it to collector’s notice, or if there is something about drainage or roads, our corporators can do the needful in AMC,” Gupta said.

He announced that they are also hoping to start online registration for new members in days to come.