Chennai: More than 30 per cent of Chennaiites prefer to lodge their civic grievances online. The number of online complaints received by the Chief Ministers’ cell, Chennai Mayor’s cell and Chennai metrowater helpline has been steadily increasing, reveals a reply to an RTI filed by Deccan Chronicle. A reply to the RTI application said 11,698 complaints were recorded by the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) from March 15, 2015, to April 15, 2015.
Of the total number, 3,933 online complaints were received, including 193 with the CM’s cell and 3,740 with CMW SSB cell, which is more than 30 per cent of the total complaints. However, 60 per cent of the nearly 11,000 complainants who had registered their civic woes preferred reaching the local engineers to get their issues addressed. During 2014, the most preferred mode of complaints from public was to directly approach the depot or ward engineer to address drinking water and sewer overflow complaints, the RTI reply said.
Meanwhile corporation officials confirmed that there was an increase in the number of complaints filed by the public through online in the past three years. “At least 20 per cent of our complaints are through online and our helpline 1913 receives the maximum number of complaints for garbage stagnation, stray dog menace and faulty streetlights”, a senior corporation official said.
The online complaints are closed after attending to the problem and with the feedback of public.
So the corporation did not maintain the trend records related to online complaints, but certainly youngsters and office-goers preferred online complaints, the official added. Civic activist V. Gopalakrishnan of K K Nagar opines that the most effective complaint cell is the CM’s cell, when it comes to online complaints followed by the Chennai Corporation online system. The only drawback with the CM cell is that the reply furnished by the government staff against whom the complaint is registered is uploaded without the complainant’s feedback.
Sharing his peculiar online complaint lodged with the CM’s cell on March 15 against a fair price shop at K K Nagar where the shopkeeper asked the customer to come next day, Gopalakrishnan said the CM cell forwarded the complaint to the civil supplies department in which the respondent replied that the customer came after 00.30 post noon and was asked to come later. This is not the fact and there should be a playback system where complainant counter feedback is also uploaded and attended for better governance, he said.
“I pay my EB bills online and most of the government departments now has online grievance system. I find it time saving to register online complaints. At times, they are also effective,” said software engineer V. Karthick, residing in Sholinganallur.
