City to soon have 1-stop helpline for all civic issues

BENGALURU: The government has proposed bringing the complaint cells of all civic and transport agencies under a common umbrella with the aim to streamline redressal of public grievances. As part of this, a common portal, as well as a four-digit complaint number, are proposed to be in place by January. The complaint cells of various agencies like BWSSB, BDA, BMRCL, BBMP, BESCOM and BMTC will be brought on a common platform. Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia said he has already held a meeting with all departments in this regard and the response has been positive. “Many a time, the public may not even be aware of which civic agency to approach in case of an issue. Sometimes, multiple agencies are required to redress a problem,” he told Express.

The proposed number will be manned by trained staffers who will handle calls like a customer care executive and transfer the call to the suitable agency, say the BWSSSB or BESCOM, for instance. An automated option will also be in place through which callers can directly reach the agencies. Khuntia said, “The existing call centres to handle complaints in all these agencies will continue to function as usual. The key difference will be a common four-digit number, which we have already asked BSNL to provide us.” The existing online portals that cater to complaints of all agencies would be integrated too. “Every complaint mailed to us about any agency will reach this database,” he said. “A docket number would be issued to each complainant. Later on checking when the complaint was resolved, we will be able to understand where the delays took place.” The government was looking at having both the common number and portal in place by January, he added.

Asked if this can expedite redressal of complaints, Khuntia replied in the negative. “It will take the same time as it does now. The main aspect is that the complaint will reach the correct agency and we can monitor the time taken to tackle an issue,” he said. A round of meetings between representatives of all the agencies was held recently. On the type of complaints BMRCL received from the public presently, its Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said mostly overcrowding in trains and need for a separate coach for women in each train. A top official said BMRCL is now working on linking its complaints’ portal with other agencies.