The number of services provided under the Sakala Mission for redressal of of citizens’ grievances has seen a nearly seven-fold jump in the past seven years, and Bengaluru Urban district has earned the dubious distinction of being a poor performer in disposal of application s.
However, rejection of applicat ions by various departments and districts is the main concern and the government is studying the reasons for it. The number of services under the mission has increased from 151 from 11 departments in 2012 to 1,033 from 91 depa rtments in 2019.
The Sakala Mission, which wa s started in April 2012, recorded a strike rate of 96.91% and 96.4% in disposal of applications in October and November 2019, respectively.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar, who is in charge of the Sakala programme, on Monday released three reports on the disposal of applications in 30 districts and said the State secretariat would be brought under Sakala. He said Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has given the green signal on the proposal.
In November, the top performing districts were Yadgir, Chickballapur and Raichur, while at the bottom of the table were Vijayapura, Bengaluru Urban and Koppal. Sakala aims to ensure time-bound services to the public under the Karnataka Sakala Services Act, 2011.
Mr. Kumar said, “The pendency of applications pertaining to revenue and khata certificates is a matter of concern in Bengaluru Urban district.” The poor performance of the city’s civic agency — the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike — is said to be another reason for the district’s performance.
Reasons for rejection
Noting the rejections of applications, he said that Bidar district recorded 19.23% rejections in October. A team of officials is to be send to Bidar to identify reasons for the rejections.
Rejection of applications is said to be the main reason citizens are directly app roaching Ministers and elected representatives. The officials will identify the ground reality and reasons for rejection, Mr. Kumar said.
A mong the departments, the rejection rate in the month of October was highest in Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (46.75%), followed by Karnataka Industrial Development Board (46.59%) and Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology (33.3%). In November, IT, BT and S&T topped (33.33%), followed by the Department of Electrical Inspectorate (17.84%) and the Directorate of Printing, Stationeries and Publishing (16.67%).
