Bhubaneswar: Owing to the outbreak of Covid-19 and strict social distancing norms, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to redress grievances online.
The civic authority’s grievance cell running from its office premises had been a popular mode of intimating various complaints. Even though BMC had launched an online portal – Bhubaneswar One – in 2018, it got lesser attention owing to lack of technological awareness.
“We have decided to fully transform ‘Bhubaneswar One’ into a proper grievance addressing platform. The decision was taken after the Covid-induced lockdowns and social distancing norms discouraged people to visit the office premises for the resolution of their issues. We will also be educating people about the application and website,” said a senior BMC official.
As per the data provided by the BMC, earlier the application used to receive 80 complaints on a daily basis. From the day of its launch, the app had received about 18,900 complaints out of which 16,200 had been resolved. While most of the complaints were related to street lighting, others include sanitation, sewage and stray cattle.
“Most of the issues such as stray cattle and lighting were resolved immediately. Other complaints such as lifting of garbage and littering were either taken cognizance instantly or in a day or two. The online platform works in coordination with different departments to view complaints and designate work to field workers so that they get resolved without delay,” the officer added.
Moreover, the figures also suggested that all complaints related to sewerage have been resolved till date. It can be mentioned that the civic authority has recently received an ISO certification for sewerage management and was the only second country in world to do so.