Official apathy mars Spandana in Andhra Pradesh

Spandana petitioners wait in long queues due to lack of proper arrangements at sub-collector’s office and asked to collect acknowledgement receipts only in the afternoon.
K Prakash, who is suffering from acute pancreatitis, and his wife at first received little help from the officials at the sub-collector’s office and even had to wait for an hour to get Aarogyasri card required for his surgery at the GGH in Vijayawada. But
K Prakash, who is suffering from acute pancreatitis, and his wife at first received little help from the officials at the sub-collector’s office and even had to wait for an hour to get Aarogyasri card required for his surgery at the GGH in Vijayawada. But

VIJAYAWADA: People who came to the sub-collector’s office in the city to submit their Spandana petitions on Monday were subjected to inconvenience due to lack of proper arrangements and official apathy.

In the previous week, when the grievance redressal programme kicked off, tents and chairs were arranged. However, there was no such preparation in place at the venue during the second session of the programme as the petitioners were made to stand in two long queues, one for men and the other for women.

Even senior citizens and people with disabilities waited for their turn to submit their applications to the assistant statistical officer (ASO). Not only this, but the staff at the counter also asked the petitioners to collect their acknowledgement slips only after 3 pm as, they said, it took some time to process them.

After many raised objections, manual slips with stamps on them were issued later. Pension beneficiary K Raju (69) from Ramavarappadu expressed his anguish as he stood in the line for 40 minutes.

69-year-old K Raju waits for his turn to submit his Spandana
petition at the sub-collector’s office in Vijayawada.
(Photo | P RAVINDRA BABU, EPS)

“I came here at 10.30 am and waited for my turn to submit an application for almost 40 minutes. When I went to collect the receipt at the next counter, the staff said they cannot process it now and that I had to wait till 3 pm. Despite requesting them to consider the fact that I am a 69-year-old, they refused to issue me the receipt any sooner.”

On being asked about the delay in the procedure, ASO Satish replied that the office has not deputed computer operators this time to process the acknowledgement slips. “Last week, 10 computer operators were engaged for the work as a lot of petitions were received. The process is taking some time today (Monday) as we relied on our staff, who have to fill three pages of each application at a time when the servers are slow.”

The officials are directed to accept every application and forward it to the departments concerned.

However, the staff at the sub-collector’s office reportedly asked the petitioners to submit their pleas at offices that dealt with their issues, as it would result in a quick resolution.

This further disappointed the public who refused to go to other government offices. B Raghavamma, a 44-year-old who was at the venue to apply for her ration card, was told to go to the civil supplies office. “After arriving here at 11 am, I had to stand in a queue for almost an hour. Later, I was told to go to another office. I could have been saved from the trouble had they told me earlier. But no one cares to give a clear response.”

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com