Irritated by the poor response to its Lokshahi Din or Democracy Day, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) is contemplating doing away with the day. Only one complaint was received was received on Monday. The PCMC has set aside the day for receiving complaints from people and acting swiftly on them.
The civic administration had received a lukewarm response to the special day from citizens right from Day One. Over the last 18 months, only 300 civic complaints were received from residents of all four zonal wards.
Lokshahi Din are events where citizens are allowed to interact directly with the administrative heads and lodge complaints about civic problems of any of the 20 departments.
On Monday, at the Lokshahi Din meeting, only one complaint regarding the building permission department was received. The meeting was held at the PCMC head office. Assistant commissioner Dr Uday Tekale and executive engineer Ravindra Dudhare presided over it. “So far this is the lowest response for Lokshahi Din,” said Tekale.
Between April 1, 2012 and December 2, 2013, there were 300 complaints. Every month, 15 to 20 complaints were received.
The complaints included the engineering department, property tax, building permission department, drainage and water. The civic officials added that due to the SARATHI helpline accessibility, it was easier for citizens to solve their civic issues, which could be the reason for the poor response for the Lokshahi Din.puneinbox@dnaindia.net
Solving complaints
Lokshahi Din is held on every first Monday of the month. The state government in the year 2000 launched the initiative to address grievances of citizens by providing them direct access to senior officers one day every month. As per norms, the citizens who were not satisfied with the civic body’s response to their grievances should utilise Lokshahi Din at the civic headquarters where the municipal commissioner and heads of the departments are expected to be available for citizens.
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