Absence of a common grievance redressal platform with regard to city roads, is leaving several issues unresolved, even after they have been flagged by the citizens.
There are multiple establishments dealing with city roads now, but the average citizen looks to GHMC for repairs, owing to familiarity and reach. Besides, the GHMC is the only body which has any platform where a grievance can be registered. Major shift in terms of road maintenance has occurred with the setting up of Hyderabad Road Development Corporation (HRDCL) last year, and subsequent transfer of various road stretches to it. As of now, all the major roads, totalling up to 320 km in the city, are under the HRDCL maintenance.
The 52-km inner ring road covering traffic heavy stretches along Tarnaka, Nagole, L.B.Nagar, Chandrayangutta, Banjara Hills, Begumpet, and Secunderabad falls under the HRDCL. Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) is obligated to handle the road maintenance wherever the construction of Metro Rail is on. Roads & Buildings department too has the responsibility of some stretches, including the radial roads of the Outer Ring Road. Cantonment Board and TSIIC are the other organisations involved in the road maintenance in the city.
“Having so many agencies for road maintenance ends up in jurisdictional issues. Further, the citizen is least aware of such jurisdiction, and complains to GHMC,” says an official from GHMC.
GHMC and Cantonment are the only two organisations with functional platforms for registering complaints, either online or offline. GHMC receives complaints through phone, online, My GHMC app, and social media platforms such as Twitter, with scope for two-way communication.
However, the issues pertaining to roads other than those maintained by GHMC are not quickly conveyed to the respective departments. “We have a social media group for road maintenance, in which officials from other departments too are present. We do share news clippings about the condition of roads, and our engineers post about particular issues they encounter. However, there is no integrated online platform that facilitates automatic redirection of complaints,” says the official. As a result, the online complaints pertaining to other departments are closed with a remark to that effect. Most complainants do not check the remarks section, and end up wondering how the complaint can be closed without redressal.
Even if they notice the remark, they would be at sea about how to approach the department concerned, as HMR, HRDCL, R&B and TSIIC do not have platforms to register grievances. On social media, the complaints not pertaining to GHMC are mostly ignored unless directed by the Minister for MA&UD K.T. Rama Rao.
