From early next year, people from across Maharashtra will be able to log on to the state government's 'Aaple Sarkar' portal to lodge their grievances.
At present, the service, which tries to bridge the gap between lack of a proper grievance redressal and collaborative system for citizens, is available for lodging grievances about Mantralaya departments and has also been extended on a pilot basis for six districts — Thane, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur.
A senior state government official told dna that they were planning to extend the grievance redressal section to all districts from January 26, which will be the first anniversary of the portal. Thus, people from across districts in Maharashtra will be able to lodge complaints with the authorities about problems at the local level. "The service is available in six districts on an experimental basis and we are planning to roll it out in all 36 districts by January 26," he added.
The official admitted that there was a delay by public authorities in addressing and resolving grievances posted on the portal, much beyond the 21-day average in which it is supposed to be attended to. He, however, attributed it to the huge number of grievances being lodged.
"At times, officials resolve a grievance but fail to update the status online. This leads to the complainant being under the impression that the problem has not been solved or has been resolved very late," the official added.
The state has already extended the scope of the 'Aaple Sarkar' portal to enable online delivery of services in a time-bound manner under the Right to Services Act from October 2, when it was launched with 46 services. It plans to make available online all services notified under the Act by March 2016-end on the portal. The portal also enables users to file RTI applications and first appeals and give suggestions to the government.
The Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act, 2015, approved by the state government, seeks to provide for the delivery of transparent, efficient and timely public services to eligible people in Maharashtra to ensure good governance.
While imposing penalties and disciplinary action on errant officers who fail to deliver public services, it also provides for cash incentives to officers who deliver within the stipulated time limit. Various departments have notified over 200 services so far.
