Roads make way to top of web portal complaint list

Pune: Aaple Sarkar, the web portal introduced by the Maharashtra government that allows citizens to register grievances — related to civic infrastructure and services — has received thousands of complaints, and the largest share pertains to the road department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Close behind is the building permission department.
As per the latest report, of the 3,432 complaints received through the portal, about 103 were still pending with various PMC departments. As many as 26 complaints are, in fact, pending for more than 21 days. Incidentally, the state government had directed the departments concerned to deal with every complaint within 21 days.

The complaints pertain to 32 departments of the PMC and ward offices. Topping the list is the road department with 774 complaints, followed by the building permission department with 744 and water supply and sewage department with 241 complaints.

A PMC official said road, water and building permission departments are all vital sections, so it was not surprising that most of the complaints received pertain to these. The officers concerned have been told to look into every complaint at the earliest and initiate corrective measures. As far as complaints pending for more than 21 days are concerned, we will seek explanations from the officers, he said.

Meanwhile, the PMC has said nearly 96% of the complaints have been addressed by the authorities. “The response has been fairly good so far as the departments have been able to address more than 95% of the complaints. A total of 3,432 complaints have been received on the portal so far and 3,329 have been resolved. We are targeting 100% redressal,” the official said.

Civic activists, however, have questioned the high redressal percentage. Though the PMC says many complaints have been addressed, the situation on the ground does not reflect that, they said.