BENGALURU: The city corporation has launched two apps, one to report grievances and other to alert the officials of poor waste management.
BBMP Sahaaya, a user-friendly app, was launched this January and is to help people convey local troubles to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike. They can be filed under any of the 20 categories such as road infrastructure, waste management, public safety and corruption. Updates on status of their complaints will be messaged to the reporters. The SMS will also have the concerned officer's name and phone number.
If the complaint is withdrawn or the officials find the complaint invalid, the user will receive a "Rejected" text.
So far, most of the users are appreciative of the app. "It is a very good app which is working for a better Bengaluru," Sathish Iyengar, an app user. "Though it requires some improvements, they can be made easily. I appreciate government's effort with it."
There are the rare complaints. Manohar Prabhu is a disappointed app user. He calls it "futile" and its working "very slow". He lodged a complaint on shody garbage collection and poorly kept roads. Despite a "clear description" he gave, he has not seen anyone resolving these issues.
The BBMP has launched another app, Swachh Bangalore, for waste management. The user can download this app and upload photos of the dirty spots with the location and added description of the issue. The request will be sent directly to BBMP officials of the concerned ward. The user will receive a registration message and can view the status of their complaint under the tab "My requests". Through the app, users can even view complaints registered by others.
A BBMP official proudly calls it "sterling" and says that it has seen a good response.