NEW DELHI: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said the increase in the number of public grievances from 2 lakh to 21 lakh reflects the people's trust in the government.
Addressing a workshop of Deputy Commissioners/District Development Commissioners across the country and nodal public grievance officers of central as well as state/UT governments, he said states were using a multiplicity of technology platforms to redress public grievances and therefore it was important to be familiar with and adopt some of the best practices followed by each other.
A number of best practices sometimes emerged even at the district level, said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
It is very encouraging to see that districts apart from the central and state governments have been actively involved in improving the public grievance redressal system, he said.
Singh said this 'national workshop on technology platforms in public grievance redressal' aims at sharing of knowledge on the technology platforms existing at district level as well.
He said it is heartening to see how the entire government machinery, right from all the districts to the state as well as the central government, are sensitive and have become responsive to redress the grievances of the common man and are participating in this national workshop to take the improvements further.
A Personnel ministry statement quoting the minister said there had been a 10-fold increase in public grievance cases since this government came to power and it, in fact, reflects the trust citizens have shown in the government.
The public grievances have increased from 2 lakh in 2014 to more than 21 lakhs at present with more than 95 per cent disposal of cases, it said.
The main mantra of the Narendra Modi government is to reach out to the last man in the last queue with all the benefits of the welfare schemes, he said.
Under the leadership of PM Modi, Singh said, every attempt was being made to implement an effective public grievance redressal system and bring about administrative reforms to promote satisfaction amongst the people and the approach has been to create a digital continuum.
It is further sought to develop and enhance the scale and agility of responsiveness of governance mechanisms by using new and emerging digital technologies, create less paper secretariats and provide a meaningful and transparent government to all people, he said.
On these lines, the Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) 7.0 version has been launched and implemented in 9 ministries and departments by mapping the last mile grievance officers, and reduction in time and improving quality of disposal, the statement said.
The goal of this national workshop was knowledge dissemination on the diverse technology platforms in redressal of public grievances, it said.
The goal has been achieved as the best technology practices in this regard have been shared through this platform, the statement said.
Singh also released the special edition of Minimum Government, Maximum Governance - 'Success Stories in Disposal of COVID - 19 Public Grievances and Best Practices in Handling of COVID - 19 Pandemic by Districts'.
The District Collectors and all the central and state nodal public grievance officers were complimented for their tireless efforts and sensitivity to reach out to citizens through the public grievance redressal mechanism, the statement said.
More than 700 districts, 33 states and Union Territories and around 75 central ministries/departments participated in the national workshop, it said.
The national workshop brought together stakeholders from central and state governments, as well as all the districts and provided an excellent platform for sharing knowledge, experiences, lessons, latest technology developments and best practices in designing and addressing public grievance redressal, the statement said.
For the first time, the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) has organised a national workshop involving district level participation for seeking innovative solutions in redressal of citizen's grievances.
Secretary, DARPG, Kshatrapati Shivaji, in his address during the valedictory session, said the national workshop has provided all participating central, state and UT governments as well as all districts important takeaways that may be now taken forward for due implementation.