After a gap of over 10 months since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the weekly grievance redressal meeting resumed at the newly constructed building at Madurai Collectorate on Monday.
Collector T. Anbalagan chaired the meeting and received petitions from the public. The people submitted petitions related to patta for houses, old age pension and government jobs.
The Collector explained to the officials about the new Integrated and Inclusive Public Grievance CM Helpline Management System which was launched by the State government to address the petitions. Under this system, the petitioners will receive an acknowledgement message on their mobile phone, and they can check the status of their petition too, he added.
Mr. Anbalagan instructed the officials to promptly follow up on the grievances that remain unresolved since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in last March. If the grievances cannot be addressed, then the reasons must be clearly communicated to the petitioners, he told them.
At new building
Usually, the weekly grievance redressal meetings are held at a hall in the old Collectorate building. Since EVM machines are stored inside the hall, the meeting was shifted to the newly constructed building. This new building, constructed at a cost of ₹30.19 crore, was necessitated as the old building had become congested with no scope for expansion.
The Collector also received petitions from differently abled persons on the old Collectorate premises. S. Boopathy, president, Madurai District Differently Abled Welfare Association, who submitted a petition on Monday, said that resumption of physical grievance day meetings were most beneficial to the public. “We can explain our grievances in a better manner in person,” he said. Mr. Boopathy suggested that the weekly grievance day meeting for the differently abled can also be held at the newly constructed building.