BHUBANESWAR: On August 21, one Golu Agarwal of Dharmagarh in Kalahandi district tweeted the plight of Lalmohan Hans whose hut was completely damaged in the heavy rains tagging the Chief Minister and his office. Lalmohan belongs to BPL category but has been deprived of a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), he complained, posting pictures of the misery of the family. Within 24 hours, Kalahandi Collector replied stating the Executive Officer of Dharmagarh NAC has been entrusted with examination of the case and Lalmohan would be included under PMAY (urban) as per norms.
Under usual process, this would never have happened. Neither Agarwal nor Lalmohan would have had the patience or resources to pursue the authorities concerned and get the grievance addressed through conventional routes.A change is sweeping the State with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik himself helming efforts to take governance to a new level by using social media as the tool. He is implementing the concept of Gov 2.0 for increased citizen participation, improved services and prompt resolution of people’s problems. While the Railways and other Ministries have earlier adopted social media grievance redressal systems what sets Patnaik apart is that it is all-encompassive and not restricted to a particular activity.
Launched by him last year, the Chief Minister’s Social Media Grievance Redressal system has made a big impact on the ground. If Lalmohan Hans has been an immediate beneficiary, so is Pratima Podh of Sirkela in Balangir district. A leprosy patient, she had become a mother recently but her baby was not in good health. A tweet to the CM and CMO by a well-wisher ensured health officials reach her and provide her with required medical care. Similarly, one Raunak Dhupar got the garbage pile left unattended by Cuttack Municipal Corporation for a long time cleared within 24 hours just by a tweet to the CM.
The CM Social Media Grievance System has registered nearly 2500 complaints till now of which over 2330 have already been resolved. A special team of officials works through Sociomatic, an advanced IT software, to screen through responses to the tweets and facebook posts of the CM and CMO as well as the independent posts tagging both.
On an average, 4000-5000 social media responses and mentions are received on CM and CMO handles every day. Once the complaints are segregated, tickets are generated and those are dispatched to the Departments or Collectors, SPs or agencies concerned with definitive time-line for redressal. Following resolution, the authorities concerned intimate the CMO as well as reply with evidence on action taken to the complainant on his or her social media handle.
“This is the manifestation of 3Ts - Technology, Teamwork and Transparency - principle of governance envisioned by the Chief Minister. In conventional grievance redressal systems, the common public is often unaware about the forums and the processes involved in registering complaints. Now, people are getting their problems resolved by a tweet or a facebook post addressed to the Chief Minister/CMO without having to move from their places, that too in swiftest time,” said Officer on Special Duty to the CM, Manoj Mishra.
Majority of the complaints are related to civic issues in cities and towns, health care facilities and services, energy, road conditions and extension of welfare schemes. “With the CM himself monitoring the progress, there is a sort of healthy competition among departments and districts towards resolving complaints as fast as possible,” Mishra added.