HYDERABAD: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) will set up a help deask at its office soon to attend to public grievances and complaints. The board’s website will be refurbished and all information on essential and emergency services will be posted on it.
This assurance has been given by the board’s chief executive officer Sujatha Gupta in deference to the persistent demand of residents who are fed with unresponsive officials and staff. With the board’s officials and employees being unapproachable for common people most of the times, residents have been demanding that a ‘help desk’ be set up at the board’s office to address their complaints and grievances. SCB officials, including those involved in monitoring even emergency services like water supply, waste management, sewerage and health are often found wanting in their duty, say residents and elected public representatives.
“Slums such as Annanagar Basti sometimes do no get water for days and weeks. If we call officials or approach the staff concerned, they do not even respond positively. This has become a common feature and settled like a culture. As a result, common people have lost hopes on SCB,” says B Prabhakar, a resident of Annanagar. And, residents of almost all other areas fully endorse his view of the pathetic situation in SCB limits. The neglect of areas where lower-income people reside and slums is worse.