What is the most common grouse in Greater Hyderabad? Not bad roads, garbage or stray dogs, but non-functioning streetlights, reveals the data collected over the last year.
Nearly 20,000 grievances registered with the GHMC last year pertain to streetlights as against 8,513 about garbage not being cleared.
Kukatpally circle had the largest number of grievances. The complaints were made through GHMC’s portal, its helpline and the Android app during April 2015- March 2016, with the number of complaints pertaining to the Electrical Department peaking in August 2015. Information and analysis about grievance data was presented at a recently-concluded Devthon, organised by open data organisation Factly at T-Hub. Nearly 80,000 complaints were analysed.
“The programme was organised to show to all stakeholders, including governments and citizens, what is possible if data is made openly available,” D. Rakesh Reddy, Factly’s founder said.
The participants who worked on GHMC data also realised many problems with making complaints.
“The Android app detects the location of a complainant, but the website does not. So a complainant has to provide the circle and ward details, which most people in the city are not aware of. The GHMC has to maintain uniformity across all modes of grievance filing,” Mr. Reddy said.
During the Devthon, participants who worked on the data also crunched numbers from the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Mr. Reddy said the government provided data on request, but they would have liked more of it.
The data on GHMC grievances revealed other interesting details. Bad roads, for which the corporation always draws flak, seemed less of a grievance than drain overflow, stray dog menace and garbage. Other frequent complaints include unauthorised or illegal constructions, property tax complaints, street sweeping and delays in carrying out fogging.
The exercise also showed that the least number of complaints, 788, were received from Quthubullapur circle, which by no means is an indication of quality of service. Rajenderanagar, Serilingampalli and Vengalrao Nagar circles ranked high in terms of number of complaints received.
