Neither govt nor public happy with grievance cell’s performance

Srinagar, Dec 17: Despite repeated directives, several government departments have not been addressing the complaints received by Governor’s Grievance Cell.

As per the official figures, the cell has received 35,322 grievances of which 34,313 have been forwarded to the authorities concerned.

However, it has been noticed that the departments have not been complying the directives of the Governor’s office in addressing the grievances of people.

The government has written to departments that government was committed to the speedy disposal of the grievances received by it through the Governor’s grievance cell.

“It has, however, 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 Governor’s grievance cell or governor’s secretariat belatedly thereby defeating the concept of prompt service delivery and grievance redressal which are a sine qua non of the mission good governance-mission delivering development,” the government communiqué reads.

The government has also directed departments to ensure submission of response in respect of the complaints to the Governor’s grievance cell.

An official of Governor’s grievance cell said that people have lodged their complaints on various issues including shortage of potable water, electricity and medicine in hospitals.

“There are also some complaints against the security personnel and hike in fee structure in schools. The grievance cell has also received some complaints of corruption and wrong doings in various departments,” the official said.

“Many departments have been delaying in addressing the grievances of people despite directives issued several times by the government.”

The official said that highest number of complaints have been received against Public Works Department, followed by Service Selection Board, Public Health Engineering, and Police Department.

“There are complaints about corruption and embezzlement of funds in these departments,” the official said.

The Governor’s grievance cell has also received complaints against the Srinagar Municipal Corporation for granting illegal permissions for constructions.

“There are complaints that SMC officials have allowed constructions on water bodies,” the official said.

A lot of complaints have also been received against lack of electricity in various areas. Most of the complainants say that they witness frequent power cuts and the Power Development Department is not adhering to its power curtailment schedule.

The Rural Development Department has the most number of complaints related to poor implementation and corruption in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and IndraAwasYojna (IAY).

Irfan Ahmad, a resident of Barbarshah, said that he lodged a complaint under no. 999000989343 with the Governor’s grievance cell related to streetlights a month before.

MukeshRakwal from Jammu & Kashmir Government Grievance Cell has written to the SMC to redress the grievance of the complainant within 15 days as mentioned in Standard Operating procedure (SOP).

However, there has been no action on his complaint so far despite passing over a month.

Mehraj Din, a resident of Pampore, said he lodged the complaint two months before about lack of ration electricity.

“We are yet to receive any response so far,” he added.