This story is from December 18, 2017

Aundh-Baner residents top in online civic complaints

Aundh-Baner residents top in online civic complaints
Citizens’ participation keeps the ward office on its toes
PUNE: When Baner resident Indranil Churhe saw the Baner-Pashan link road dug up and no sign of repairs being undertaken, instead of cribbing about it, he took a photograph and WhatsApped his complaint to Pune Municipal Corporation’s grievance redressal cell PMC Care. A complaint was registered, a token number issued and the repair work completed.
Almost one and a half years since Pune Municipal Corporation started the cell via an online portal and a helpline number, the maximum number of complaints online were received at Aundh ward office.

“We get the maximum complaints online. In the last few days, the ward received 27 complaints, making the number of complaints per month above 300. The WhatsApp messages by citizens are converted to mails and sent to the respective wards. If we keep 30 pending, by the next day it will be 65. Hence, we have to keep solving everything that day itself or the pile up would be huge,” Madhukar Kadam, in charge of the online complaints at Aundh ward office, said.
Churhe, is a regular user of the WhatsApp complaint feature. “Residents of Baner, Balewadi, Aundh and Pashan come under the Aundh ward office. We see so many situations that need improvement. We blame the authorities, but do nothing ourselves. We should change this.”
Vaishali Patkar, Aundh Mohalla Committee President feels that the reason for such an active response is the awareness drives conducted in respective mohallas. “Earlier if there was a problem in a society, the residents would go and complain to the president. But now we have spread information about PMC Care to every resident in every society so that they all can avail the benefits.”
Patkar further said that introducing a WhatsApp version has helped in ease of filing complaints. “The helpline numbers are always busy and sometimes nothing happens. But via WhatsApp we can track everything, plus it is time-saving,” said Patkar. This reporter also called up the Helpline number thrice but with no luck as all the time, after putting the call on hold, the call was disconnected.

Once the complaint is received, the main office sends it to ward office and this is sent to the concerned offices to solve. Kadam said that awareness among people has increased the complaints. “When the service started almost two years ago, the response was very lukewarm, but this year it has picked up in a big way. Response during the latter part of the year has increased especially via WhatsApp,” said Kadam.
Complaints about encroachment, poor sanitation, drainage system, street light, road construction or pothole related problems are the highest from the ward. After it is resolved, the complaint status is closed and within two weeks, a call is made to the complainant seeking feedback .
“If during the call, the complainant says that the work hasn’t been done, the file is reopened and again sent. The citizens give a rating between 1 and 5, with 5 standing for excellent work. We have a rating of 2.7 for our ward office. But then it is a false message that we ask people not to complaint because it will hamper our promotion and increment ,” Kadam added.
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