NEW DELHI: The Public Works Department (PWD) is irked with a section of its officials who skipped training sessions regarding management of the Delhi government’s website and mobile application.
After the launch of Sewa App, the Delhi government had made it mandatory for all its officials to download the app on their mobile phones. The purpose was to ensure that these officials monitor complaints and progress of works pertaining to maintenance and service delivery of civic matters in the city.
The Sewa App has several features, including registration of complaints with photographs and locations, which automatically direct the grievances to executive engineers or assistant engineers concerned.
It was found that only 30 per cent attendance was registered at a training session held in August. In a review meeting, a top official of the finance department told the PWD chief engineer that the staff, who were to be trained for understanding the features of the application, were not taking the sessions seriously.
“The PWD held a workshop so that the staff could understand the new age digital functioning. But it was observed that of the 500 officials, only 164 attended the event,” read the minutes of the review meeting.
At the same meeting, the finance department told the PWD officials in a clear message that they have to appear in the programme for keeping themselves updated. Notably, the application is solving less than half of the grievances it receives.
An official said the area controlling officer can check pending complaints under his subordinate officers through the mobile application. After addressing the complaints, the department engineers can also upload photo-proof of a grievance to convey that the action is taken on complaints. Therefore, it has become necessary for these officials to be acquainted with work on the internet-based application and the website.