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| Aggrieved complain, Omar not taking up complaints addressed to "CM's grievance cell" personally | | | early times report
SRINAGAR, Sept. 4 : On completion of its third year of operation today, Awaz-e-Awam, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister's Grievance Cell has disposed off 16055 complaints. Cell was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Omer Abdullah at Civil Secretariat on September 4, 2009.
"Since 2009, the cell has received 17292 grievances from which 16055 has been disposed off and 1237 have been sent to the concerned authorities for necessary action till date", Ram Sevak Deputy Secretary JK Grievance Cell said.
Describing the cell an effective mechanism to entertain the complaints of general public, the Chief Minister during the inauguration had said "people should receive prompt, to the point and appropriate responses from the cell. The complainant should get all information about the status of the complaint, progress and the action taken".
Chief Minister had then claimed that he would personally look after working of the cell on regular basis. However, many complainants who registered grievances on the online portal are not satisfied with disposal of their grievances and feel it was mere eyewash. Some residents of Bagh e Mehtab locality in Srinagar had registered a grievance about non-availability of regular drinking water supply in their locality vide complaint number's 10409 and 16339 dated 18/2/10 and 9/9/10 respectively.
Concerned authorities replied with merely quoting statistical figures and promised to redress their problems within a period of two months. However, the locals decried inaction and futility of the grievance cell. "Nothing was done on the ground. It was a futile exercise," said the locals. Another complainant was aghast over the procedure adopted by the cell whereby it forwards the complaints to the very person whom the complaint is against.
"None can be allowed to judge his own actions. I complained about the non availability of sugar at our Ration depot and requested the cell to direct the concerned authorities for necessary action. However, I was surprised to find that the complaint was forwarded to the person whom I had accused. Experts believe the complaints against authorities should be thoroughly read and understood and in case of grave allegations, supported by proof and evidence, necessary investigations should be done to punish the culprits.
"If you seriously want cooperation of common people to make administration more effective, you should not make an administrator a judge in his own cause" opines Advocate Musharraf from Pulwama, adding the cell is doing nothing more than the job of an online courier service. "They just forward the complaints, get feedback from concerned officers and then simply dispose them off. This holds no logic. The cell needs teeth to act against defaulters", he added.
Deputy Secretary of the JK Grievance cell Ram Sevak said they forward the complaints immediately to the concerned authorities for necessary action. "Most of the grievances on issues like SRO 43, land compensation, essential supplies etc are redressed promptly, however, if the grievance is in the nature of demand, it may take time," he said. He further said that with the enactment of JK Public Service Guaranteed Act, grievances about the delay in issuance of ration card, state subject certificates etc are very rare now.
Asked what if the replies submitted by the concerned authorities don't satisfy the complainant, he said," the person is at liberty to write to us again". "The main objective of the cell is to receive the grievances/complaints and to forward them under intimation of CM to the concerned authorities for immediate redressal. Reminders are sent on every Monday if the authorities fail to revert against the sent grievance/complaint. Chief Minister is himself monitoring the working of cell", he informed.
Pertinently, complying with the directions of the JK grievance cell, the district administration Rajouri had issued a circular to all the departments falling within the jurisdiction of Rajouri district to make necessary arrangements within a month time to comply RTI regulations and provisions such as appointment of Public Information Officers and Appellate Authority which is mandatory under the provisions of JK RTI ACT 2009.
This development came after an RTI activist Raman Sharma had filed a complaint with the grievance cell vide complaint no 16335 dated 08/09/2010 that the government offices and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University had not designated PIO and also not mentioned RTI Act in their official websites. Pursuing the directions of the district administration the authorities of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) had designated Registrar, Mohammed Rashid Choudhary as PIO and Assistant Registrar had been assigned the task of Assistant Public Information Officer with immediate effect.
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