NEW DELHI: The newly-unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), currently being run by bureaucrats in absence of an elected house, has put in place a three-tier public grievance redressal mechanism — ‘Jan Sunwai’ — to be formally launched from Monday. Officers across all the 12 zones will attend to people’s complaints for an hour every working day of the week.
As per order to this effect issued by MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti said, “A large number of online/offline grievances/complaints are being received from the general public as well as through the MCD employees on a daily basis. General public visits the headquarters and zonal offices of the MCD during office hours inquiring about their complaints.”
The order dated June 3 further said, “In order to redress the grievances, it has been decided that public hearings shall be conducted on daily basis at MCD headquarters as well as at zonal DC offices.” It is being launched under the title ‘Samvad Se Samadhan, Nigam Apke Dwar’.
According to officials, the order has been issued with immediate effect and shall come into practice from Monday when the civic body commissioner has summoned a meeting of all deputy commissioners (DCs), among other officials to discuss the logistics of the public hearing system.“So far we have not devised a mechanism on how those coming with grievances will be called in so as to say if they shall be given a token to wait their turn etc. This is mainly because we need to see the number of people turning up for hearings initially. Usually, an officer can address at least around 30-35 hearings within an hour. So the system will be fine-tuned in due course,” said a senior official.
The officer added, “The time taken for each hearing and the redressal will depend on the complexity of the issue. If it’s a routine complaint concerning potholes to be filled, cleaning of back lanes, pruning of trees, maintenance of parks etc, it can be resolved within 24 to 48 hours. “However, with more complex issues, which are also the most frequently reported include — the removal of encroachment from footpaths, in front of houses or public land; and unauthorised constructions — may take a while to be addressed,” the
officer said.
While an additional commissioner-rank officer will conduct public hearing sessions every weekday from 12 noon to 1 pm at the Civic Centre (the MCD headquarters) as well as at Udyog Sadan, Patparganj (erstwhile east MCD headquarters) each, all DCs will hear grievances at their respective zonal offices during the same time. Besides, nodal officers have been designated for each of the 272 wards and they have been asked to attend to public grievances in their field offices between 11 am and 12 pm.
NODAL OFFICERS TO LOOK AFTER 272 WARDS
All DCs will hear grievances at their respective zonal offices during during 12 noon to 1 pm. Nodal officers have been designated for each of the 272 wards and they have been asked to attend to public grievances in their field offices between 11 am and 12 pm.