Flooded with grievances, CM banks on hi-tech solution

With nearly 1.5 lakh grievances pouring in during the first seven months of his government, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has turned to technology for help. A complete process of tracking the grievances, right up to their redressal, is expected to be made online in the coming months, and a call centre set up to collect feedback.

Work on the new system is on. Already, applicants can track the status of their applications online by feeding the complaint number and their cellphone number in a link at upcmo.up.nic.in, which is the website of the chief minister's office. SMS alerts are also sent to applicants informing them about the status of their applications.

The CM received most of these applications during the Janta Darshan — started on April 18, during which once a week Akhilesh is available to anyone at his residence without an appointment. Officially, as many as 1,40,593 applications had been registered till October 18 in the Lok Shikayat Cell at the Chief Mnister's office which exclusively deals with these applications.

In fact, it is two cells —- Lok Shikayat I deals with applications which are routed through other VIPs, while Lok Shikayat II deals with applications coming from all other sources, including Janta Darshan, applications handed to the Chief Minister during his visits, those coming by email, fax and ordinary post, or forwarded by the Samajwadi Party office.

The applicants are expected to give a cellphone contact number. The applications coming in at Janta Darshan, which constitute the bulk, are also bar coded with a six-digit number for identification. Then, the applications are sorted into 28 categories, such as transfer requests, complaints regarding police, revenue issues, requests for jobs, financial assistance for medical treatment, for appointment as government lawyers, and various development works.

"After the applications are sorted, they are despatched to the concerned officer in the CM's secretariat for reference to the relevant department," said Amod Kumar, consultant at the CM's office. Then, hard copies are sent to relevant officials for action. The applications are also scanned and uploaded on the website upcmo.up.nic.in.

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