A movement has begun to seek establishment of a commission for redressal of public grievances through a single window, under the aegis of Praja Spandana here on Sunday.
Participants in an open house debate on public grievances redressal held at Ba Bapu Bhavan here opined that such a commission was required to address the grievances of the common public as the existing grievance mechanisms were unable to provide solution to their problems. There were, however, varied opinions on whether the commission should be an independent body or whether it should have the support of the government.
A retired IPS Officer, Dilip Kumar, who is associated with the Public Grievances Commission in Delhi, gave an overview of its formation. It was set up to act as functionally independent body responsible for the speedy redressal of complaints on the public against acts of omission and commission on the part of government officials. Mr. Dilip Kumar felt that the Government of Andhra Pradesh could form a similar commission to effectively deal with public grievances. “If the Chief Minister is really sincere about his oft-repeated words ‘transparency’ and ‘honesty’ in governance, he should establish the commission.”
Praja Spandana president C.S. Rao said that though district officials like the Collector, Commissioner of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and Chairman and Managing Director of Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP (AP EPDCL) allotting one day in a week to take up public grievances, the results were far from satisfactory.
He advocated the setting up of independent empowered committee, comprising of representatives from the public, in each district. The committee should take up itself the responsibility of ensuring that the grievances were attended to by the officials within a reasonable timeframe. Former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Balmohan Das said that the common people were either not having proper access to the district officials or were too apprehensive to approach them at their offices and the appointment of the grievances committee by the government could bridge the gap. J. Ramu Naidu, a resident of Siripuram Towers, who has been fighting a long-drawn battle against violation of rules by the builder, felt that such a body would make it easy for the public to get such grievances resolved.
If the Chief Minister is really sincere about ‘transparency’ and ‘honesty’ in governance, he should establish the commission.
Dilip Kumar
Retired IPS Officer
