Not just public, babus too relying on Aaple Sarkar for better governance

Bad roads, hurdles in getting scholarships or availing government services and even a complaint about a traffic policeman breaking a car headlight while towing it away. These are some of the 2,379 complaints received by ‘Aaple Sarkar’ mobile app and portal as on February 15. Not just the public, bureaucrats too are using the grievance redressal system, which was launched on January 26, to complain about clearances not being granted for infrastructure projects.

How many complaints were resolved?

A total of 516 complaints have been resolved and 80% complainants have indicated they are satisfied at the outcome. The remaining will be attended to in 21 working days since the complaint was filed.

Though officials caution that this does not reflect on the performance of a department at large, the revenue (192) department leads in number of complaints followed by urban development (159), school education and sports (147), rural development (139) and higher and technical education (132).

What are the issues?

“Most complaints pertain to non-receipt of services, letters not being responded to by officials, status of services applied for like ration cards and even bad roads, traffic and corruption,” said a senior official, adding that some were related to the need to overhaul the education system, starting new courses and questioning the need for certificates like domicile.

Which depts does the app cater to?

Aaple Sarkar presently covers the 31 departments at Mantralaya with plans to extend it to the civic bodies and district collectorates by April-end. The system enables people to lodge grievances, track their progress, make suggestions on the working of the government, file RTI requests and also comment on drafts of proposed laws and policies.

“People must be able to lodge grievances easily,” said Kaustubh Dhavse, officer on special duty to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is monitoring the project. The state has six officials-cum-consultants who are part of the team with each department having a nodal officer.

Are people satisfied?

Apparently yes. “Of the 516 resolved complaints, the satisfaction ratio is 80%,” said an official, adding that they were also running a beta version of an analytical tool to detect keywords like rape and corruption in the complaints. “This is an important tool to test the sentiment of the state,” the official pointed out.

What if an office isn’t integrated?

In case an office is not integrated into the system, portal administrators send a mail to the complainant with details of the officials they can complain to and also forward the grievance to them from our end, he said.

For instance, when an irate motorist from Mumbai complained about the headlight of his car being broken while the police were towing it away, it was forwarded to officials who reprimanded the constable.

Is CM being apprised of the performance?

Fadnavis' office gets a dashboard of complaints lodged. On Friday, chief secretary S.S Kshatriya will review the project with department secretaries and next week, a presentation will be made before Fadnavis.

However, with 495 complaints being directed to the wrong department, the query has to be diverted to the concerned department, which takes time. Many complaints are frivolous in nature, the source admitted.