public grievance redressal mechanisms - …3 public grievance redressal mechanism deepening local...

1 Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism

Deepening Local Democratic Governance through Social

Accountability in Asia

PUBLIC GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL MECHANISMS

CONCEPT

A „grievance / complaint‟ can be defined as any expression of dissatisfaction, which needs a response. Broadly, a grievance can be defined as any discontent of dissatisfaction with any respect of dissatisfaction with any aspect of the organization. It can be real or imaginary, legitimate or ridiculous, rated or unvoiced, written or oral, it must be however, find expression in some form of the other. Discontent or dissatisfaction is not a grievance. They initially find expression in the form of a complaint. When a complaint remains unattended to and the employee concerned feels a sense of lack of justice and fair play, the dissatisfaction grows and assumes the status of grievance. Grievance Redressal is a platform provided by the governance institution to the citizens to voice their dissatisfaction about poor or inadequate performance of the institution and hold it accountable for the same. Grievance handling is a very important and sensitive area of the Government‟s work profile. It is, nonetheless, an area that is, at best, taken for granted and, at worst, neglected by the service providers, as it does not fall into the category of "urgent" matters. On the one hand, there is the need to sensitize the service provider and, on the other, it is necessary to create a climate of civic and social responsibility among "citizens", not merely "consumers" or "customers“. Without a good complaint redressal system, Citizen‟s Charters have no effect. Departments should establish highly credible & responsive complaints procedures and redressal systems.

OPTIONS FOR LODGING COMPLAINTS

The various ways in which we can lodge a complaint are:

Written (application / form) Verbal (through help desk / single window system) Telephone SMS (mobile) Internet Other informal routes (complains made to popular community or citizen leaders/ ward

councillors / other Elected Representatives).

A few points need to be considered in this aspect:

People will only complain if they feel that the organization listens to their complaints and acts on them. They will not do so if they think that it will not bring any




result. Thus the organizations must make it clear to the public that complaints are welcomed and that information will be used to improve services.

Another crucial aspect is fear among users. Having no other alternative, the users might feel that the department might discontinue their services or harass in other ways. People may not complain if they fear that the service will somehow single them out for harassment and punish them for complaining. This is particularly true, if the relationship between the user and the service puts the user in a potentially vulnerable position e.g. electricity, water, telephones etc.

Before anyone can make a complaint, one needs to have certain information. This includes rights and responsibilities. People should be told not only what their rights are as receivers of public service, but also know their responsibilities. This can be done best through a clear statement provided in the Citizen‟s Charter.

DETAIL TO BE RECORDED ABOUT COMPLAINTS

Organisations must decide for themselves the level of detail to be recorded about complaints received, but minimum data should include:

Name, address and contact number of the complainant Date of receipt Details of the complaint / subject / issue What redress the person wants Immediate action to be taken on the complaint.

Information about complaints should be submitted to the senior officers and policy makers on a regular basis.

STEPS FOR EFFECTIVE COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT

The basic steps to an effective grievance handling system are:

1. Acknowledge complaints 2. Designate a location to receive complaints 3. Develop a system for record keeping 4. Process and record complaints 5. Investigate and analyze the complaints 6. Keep the customer informed of the progress 7. Periodically analyze the complaints and improve the process

The Time targets for responding to the complaints should be stated for:

Acknowledging complaints; Responding to complaints; Keeping people informed if the response target cannot be met and explaining the

reasons for the same; The possible outcome - the information should state what redress people can expect

when they have a complaint.




Figure : A flowchart representing an effective Grievance Redressal Mechanism

The feedback to the complaint lodged can be sought in the following ways:

Over-the-counter at the service outlets By toll-free telephone number/telephone/fax By post By community/consumer organizations Through constituting consultative committees Internet / e-mail

REDRESS OPTIONS

An apology An explanation Assurance, backed up by action and monitoring Action taken to put things right Financial compensation

Feedback on the complaint redressed can be sought in the following ways:

Over-the-counter at the service outlets; By toll-free telephone number/telephone/fax; By post;




By community/consumer organizations; Through constituting consultative committees; Internet/e-mail

EFFICIENT COMPLAINT SYSTEM SHOULD BE

Easily accessible and well publicized Simple to understand and use Speedy, with established time limits for action and keeping people informed of progress Keeping people informed of progress Fair , comprehensive and impartial in its investigation Confidential, to maintain the confidentiality of both the staff and the complainant Informative, providing information to top management so that services can be improved Able to categorize and set out the volume of complaints, broken down by different

categories Able to include an analysis of response time Able to Inform the complainant of the proposed action

Some of the good practices that lead to an effective complaint management

1. Publishing complaints information The department must publish information on complaints received at least on a yearly basis and that should include:

Numbers and types/categories of complaints; Speed of response to the complaints received; Action taken as a result of complaints to improve services.

Publishing complaints information is in line with the principle of general public service accountability and transparency. It demonstrates to the public that complaints are taken seriously and it is worthwhile to complain.

2. Computerization of Data – Role of Information Technology (IT) Information Technology has given an added feature to the way in which information can be stored in government departments. The data on complaints can be stored with ease and can be accessed comfortably without tedious record maintenance. The database becomes accessible to every level of the administration and redress is also possible more effectively and quickly. It becomes convenient to record and track complaints and produce reports on complaint redressal. This also enables measurement of customer satisfaction through analysis of questionnaires generated amongst users.

3. Reviewing Complainants Complainants should have the opportunity to have their complaint reviewed if they are dissatisfied with response. Each department should determine the best arrangement to suit that position. Government departments should make it easy for the public to lodge complaints. They could do this by:

Leaflets and posters;




Booklets; The media – radio, T.V. local press; Telephone directory; Contact – Help lines, i.e., Telephone numbers.

4. If a complaint system is to be effective, simply having procedures may not be enough. It is important that staff have the “right attitude” towards complaints. This involves: Listening sympathetically to people who have felt a cause to complain

Say “Thank you”;

Explain why you appreciate the complaint;

Apologize for mistake(s);

Promise to do something about the problem immediately;

Ask for necessary information;

Correct the mistake – promptly;

Check customer satisfaction;

Prevent future mistakes.

BEST PRACTICES

Example 1: Government of India

In a democratic country like India, citizens make the government and hold it accountable. The citizens depend on the services provided by various government agencies but often the quality is far from satisfactory. So, often the citizens need to deal with the government authorities to get their grievances redressed. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) is the chief coordinating agency for redress of public grievances arising from the work of Ministries / Departments and other Organizations of GoI. According to the allocation of Business Rules 1961 the main functions of the Department in the sphere of redress of public grievances are as follows: Policy and coordination of issues relating to: (i) Redress of Public Grievances in general, and (ii) Grievances pertaining to Central Government Agencies Though the grievances of the public are received at various points in the Government of India, there are designated nodal agencies in the government apart from the DARPG for handling of public grievances, like - (1) The Public Wing of the Prime Minister‟s Office. (2) The Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat and (3) The Department of Pensions and Pensioners‟ Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.




Guidelines given by DARPG The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal agency for policy making on public grievances. The Department has issued the following important guidelines to all Ministries/ Departments of the Central Government for handling grievance redress and to strengthen the grievance redress machinery in order to make the administration more responsive to the needs of the people. In order to achieve this, all Ministries and Departments are required to:

Designate a senior officer as Director of Public Grievances/Grievance officer in every office including all organizations under them.

Observe every Wednesday as a meetingless day in the Central Secretariat offices when Director of Public Grievances should be available at their desks from 1000 hrs. to 1300 hrs. to receive and hear public grievances. Field level officers having contact with the public have also to declare one day in the week as a meetingless day.

Deal with every grievance in a fair, objective and just manner. Analyse public grievances received to help identification of the grievance prone areas in

which modification of policies and procedures could be undertaken with a view to making the delivery of services easier and more expeditious.

Issue booklets/pamphlets about the schemes/services available to the public indicating the procedure and manner in which these can be availed and the right authority to be contacted for service as also the grievance redress authority.

Pick up grievances appearing in newspaper columns which relate to them and take remedial action on them in a time bound manner.

Strengthen the machinery for Redress of Public Grievances through strictly observing meetingless day on every Wednesday, displaying name, designation, room number, telephone number etc. of Director of Grievances at the reception and other convenient places, placing a locked complaint box at reception, and giving more publicity about the grievance redress machinery, etc.

Set up Staff Grievance Redress Machinery and designate a Staff Grievance Redress Officer. Include the Public Grievances work and receipt/disposal statistics relating to redress of public grievances in the Annual Action Plan and Annual Administrative Report of Ministries/Departments.

Fix time limits for disposal of work relating to public grievances and staff grievances and strictly adhere to such time limits.

Inform complainants the name, designation, office and telephone number of the official who is processing the case. The time frame in which a final reply will be sent should also be indicated.

Constitute Lok Adalats/Staff Adalats, if not already constituted, and hold them every quarter for quicker disposal of public as well as staff grievances and pensioners‟ grievances.

Constitute a Social Audit Panel or such other machinery, if not already constituted, for examining areas of public interface with a view to recommending essential changes in procedure to make the organization more people-friendly.

Establish a Single window system at points of public contact, wherever possible, to facilitate disposal of applications.

Notify MTNL separately about directory entries pertaining to Public Grievance Redress Officers.




Issue a reasoned and a speaking reply for every grievance rejected. Quarterly Progress Reports regarding the receipt and disposal of grievances in the

Ministry/ Department and organizations under it. Grievances received and disposed of in the Ministry/Department and organizations under

it should be monitored by the Joint Secretary/Director (PG) every month. Each Ministry/Department should prepare a consolidated directory of officers holding

public/ staff grievances responsibility in the Ministry/Department and organizations under it.

Should give wide publicity of Director (PG) through Citizens‟ Charters, Broadcast of audio-visual capsules, sports, websites; etc.

Focus attention on analysis of public grievances to identify grievance-prone areas and implement systemic changes to reduce grievances.

Brochures/Pamphlets prepared by various Ministries/Departments and their subordinate/attached/ autonomous agencies may be kept at accessible contact points including the railway stations, bus stands etc.

Citizens‟ level of satisfaction should be measured on a regular basis. In order to make the grievance redress mechanism more effective, the following steps

need to be taken: (a) careful analysis of grievances. (b) decision on grievances to be taken at a fairly senior level. (c) forwarding the grievances to the departments concerned for prompt redress. (d) reply to complainant informing details of authorities setting grievances. (e) obtaining reply/report from the departments concerned. (f) a reasoned reply to the complainant, if a grievance cannot be settled.

Place Citizen‟s Charters of Ministry/Department and organizations under them on the website.

Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) The Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System, is an online web-enabled system over NICNET developed by NIC in association with the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) with an objective of speedy redress and effective monitoring of grievances by Ministries/Departments/Organizations of Government of India. This system besides providing a faster access offers the following facilities to citizens. CPGRAMS aims at capturing the real time work flow and interaction among all the participant users. The central idea of the application architecture is to introduce a standard and uniform approach to various functions in user departments, besides enabling them to carry out the business as per their local business needs. Therefore the highlights of this system are:

Online web-enabled system Speedy redress and Effective monitoring of grievances by Ministries / Departments / Organizations of GoI

Cycle Of Grievance Redress Operation




1. Lodging of the grievance by a citizen 2. Acknowledgement of acceptance of grievance by organization. 3. Assessment of grievance regarding follow up action. 4. Forwarding and transfer 5. Reminders and clarification 6. Disposal of the case.

Consequent upon the online lodging of grievance by the citizen, the same electronically reaches the concerned PG officer of respective Ministries/Departments/Organizations of GOI and State Governments, who makes an assessment of the case and takes up with the concerned Subordinate organizations for an early settlement. The grievance gets redressed by the concerned organization and the same is intimated to the complainant online.

Figure: Grievance Redressal Flowchart




Figure: Complaint form

EXAMPLE 2: MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATOR MUMBAI (MCGM) The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the primary agency responsible for urban governance in Greater Mumbai. MCGM is one of the largest local governments in the Asian continent. It has the budgetary outlay of about Rs. 40 Billion, larger than budgets of many states and has, over 100,000 civic workforce. It provides the most comprehensive suite of services including:

Education, Medicare and Medical, Education Water Supply, Transport, Electricity

Central Complaint Registration System:

Logical corollary of the Citizens‟ Charter Helpline (1916) with multiple hunting lines Multiple-service specific complaint centers in a single control room Software application to register complaints




Complaint registration for monitoring Complaints sorted at control room Information transfer to wards on e-mail Redressal report furnished by ward Municipal Commissioner monitors performance

Multi-modal Complaint Service

Citizens can lodge complaints related to solid waste management, drainage, storm water drain, roads & traffic, factories, license issues, water supply, pest control, buildings, encroachment, etc. by methods enlisted below,

Online complaint registration form by visiting the Citizen Portal. Citizen Facilitation Center (CFC) of the 24 wards of MCGM. By calling the 24 hours call attendance with 10 phone lines on 1916 E-mail complaints to [email protected] Hyperlink from MCGM website at www.mcgm.gov.in Fax complaints to 2269 4719 Courier paper based complaints to CCRS, Municipal HO Verbal complaints registered at CCRS counter Complaints also received at Ward Office by Complaint Officer

How It Operates

Complaint received at ward office /CCRS gets entered into software Application provides Complaint Tracking Number for reference Complaint gets dispatched to relevant redressing authority via email Redressing authority enters redressal details into the application Non-redressal of complaint within timeframe results in automatic escalation of

complaint to next higher authority Citizen can be provided complaint status at any time System generates rich MIS for monitoring efficiency MIS routinely checked by Municipal Commissioner and is open to general public

as well

The Progress made so far: Computerized CCRS started function from December 2000 Over 100,000 complaints received till date Redressal rate is about 76.52%, despite large number of cases where action

cannot be taken as matters pending in courts Independent surveys show increased citizen satisfaction

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.mcgm.gov.in/




Figure: Complaint Form




Figure :Form to Check Complaint Status

Key Benefits

Citizens do not have to possess knowledge of where and when to complain for which particular service. One single number, active round the clock, for complaints regarding any Municipal service

Citizens have wider choice of mode of complaint: Uneducated people find it difficult to use complaint forms and procedures.

Citizens can track the status of their complaint with the allotted Complaint Tracking Number

Complaints are automatically escalated in case not solved within timeframe Superior transparency and active monitoring by Municipal Commissioner and general

public ensures quality of service Computerization has taken away the mundane part of the job and enhanced efficiency

Vision

Integrate other MCGM complaint agencies o Ward Complaint Officers o P.G. (Public Grievance) meeting of M.C. o Lokshahi Din o Zonal DMC‟s




o HoD & other Head office Principals o Asst. Municipal Commissioner

Extension to Beat Officers Improve complaint redressal at beat level through strengthening of beat system

Example 3: Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) The establishment of Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) was announced by the late Y.A.B. Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Hussein, Malaysia‟s second Prime Minister on 23rd July 1971. Initially, PCB was placed under the General Planning Division, Prime Minister‟s Department and started its operation on 2nd August 1971. Among the objective of PCB‟s establishment is to ensure effective and fair administration practiced by the Government agencies. Apart from that, PCB is also established to strengthen the relations between Government and public and at the same time create an avenue to public to air their difficulties when dealing with the Government agencies.

PCB Objectives

To resolve complaints efficiently, fairly, and effectively as promised in the PCB Client's Charter;

To improve the rate of resolving complaints received from the public; To provide and improve facilities for the public to lodge complaints; To reduce repetitive complaints against the public services; To introduce changes and innovation based on public complaints received; To provide advisory services to agencies in order to improve the effectiveness of public

complaints management system; To detect issues than can lead to complaints made by the public; and To obtain public opinion to ensure the success of the Governments' development

programmes.

Methods to Lodge Complaint Send a letter without stamp to Public Complaints Bureau, P.O. Box 9000 Kuala

Lumpur. Walk in to the Headquarters Office / State Offices or by telephoning. Lodge complaints through PCB‟s website at www.bpa.jpm.my and e- mail

complaints to [email protected] . Complaints lodged through PCB‟s programmes

i. Mobile Complaints Counter (MCC) ii. Integrated Mobile Complaints Counter (IMCC), etc.

Types of Complaint made By Public Below are examples of complaints that can be lodged to the Public Complaints Bureau for further action:

1. Delays / No Action 2. Unfair Action 3. Lack of Public Amenities

http://www.bpa.jpm.my/

mailto:[email protected]




4. Inadequacies of Policy Implementation And Law 5. Abuses of Power 6. Misconduct of Civil Servants 7. Failure to Adhere to Set Procedures 8. Unsatisfactory Quality of Service Provided 9. Failure to Enforce Regulations/Laws 10. Miscellaneous Complaint.

Complaint Handling Process

It is advisable for complainants to lodge their complaints to the department that they have problem with before contacting the Public Complaints Bureau ( PCB ) for assistance.

Figure: Grievance redressal procedure




Figure: Complaint Form




PRIA‟s EXPERIENCE

PRIA‟s Initiative There is a notion among the general public that the municipalities do not perform their duties efficiently. On the other hand the municipalities express that the citizens do not understand the immense pressure and constraints within which the municipality functions. Under this scenario, PRIA has initiated a project “Supporting ULBs in Institutionalizing Social Accountability Mechanisms” that aims to effectively build upon the previous work that has been carried out in these cities. It rests on the basic premise that good local governance leads to enhanced service delivery by Urban Local Bodies. One of the important reasons for such ineffective and non-responsive service is the lack of transparency and accountability in the local governance institutions. In this project, PRIA was supported by the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank to carry out this project in three cities (Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh ). Under this project, there was a need of extensive and deeper involvement of the ULBs as mechanisms needed to be adopted by them to enhance their accountability towards citizens; the participation of people also needed to be enhanced at all levels by conduction of Area Sabhas and formation of Ward Committees towards betterment of accountability of the local government and improvement of services. The aim was to have successful & efficient redressal mechanisms that can be adopted by local governments and have the following properties:

Popular Inclusive Accessible to citizens Have quality of adaptability, replicability and scalability

Approach Adopted

Two pronged strategies are proposed to achieve the expected outputs as:

Demand side – promoting and nurturing the demand side of urban governance; it will deal with amplification of citizen voices

Supply side – provide support to the supply side of urban governance; it will include raising awareness/building capacity of municipal managers (elected representatives, officers towards becoming more socially accountable

And finally to focus on their interface.




Initiatives For Institutionalizing Grievance Redressal Systems

Figure: Methodology Flowchart

Sharing of learning material, documents

and best practices

W3 survey findings and report

CRC report

Presentations and Documents on

Social Accountability Orientation and regular

conduction of meetings of CTAGs

in 3 cities

Regular Interaction and Liasoning with

the officials and ULB representatives

Orientation of municipality

and Elected Representatives

Situation Analysis: Status of existing social accountability

mechanisms & citizen engagement in 3 cities

Background research - best practices

Orientation/Knowledge transfer to Project Teams, Partners

Engagement with

Municipality

Engagement with

Citizens

Supply side Interventions Demand side Interventions

Regular interaction with citizens and

awareness generation in wards and with

ward councilors

Community Mobilization and

conduction of Area Sabhas

Creation of Ward Profiles

Selection of citizen leaders/

election/nomination of area sabha

representatives

Designing, preparation and piloting of public grievance redressal system

Informing the community about the new/ improved GRS window/ phone/ online etc.) in the ULB’s and encouraging them to test these new /improved GRS..

Adoption and institutionalisation of the

new and improved systems of Grievance

redressal by the municipality.

Organizing exposure visits for project

team/ULB representatives and CTAG




Note: CRC: Citizen Report Card CTAG: City Technical Advisory Group GRS: Grievance Redressal System ULB: Urban Local Body W3: Ward Water-Sanitation Watch PROCESS ADOPTED Numerous initiatives were carried out to reach the goal of accomplishing efficient and citizen friendly accountability mechanisms in the three cities. Having done the detailed analysis of the current accountability mechanisms within the municipalities, there arose unique needs of each ULB leading to a unique strategy. But there were commonalities in all three cities like orientation and capacity enhancement of municipal officials and greater interface with the public. Simultaneously, in the project, the citizens were becoming increasingly aware of their rights and civic responsibilities, using the complaint mechanism and gaining solidarity as area sabhas and orientation of elected representatives and citizen leaders took place. The common challenge for the three ULBs was to gear up for better delivery and develop accountable attitudes due to a flurry of complains by the citizens. It was against this backdrop that PRIA was to formulate, operationalise and revamp the current grievance redressal systems in the three ULBs. Summarized below are the common steps adopted for all sites:

a) Background Research on Best Practices of Social Accountability Mechanisms (SAMs)

In order to learn from successful and efficient accountability mechanisms adopted by local governments and that are popular, inclusive and accessible to citizens, a secondary study of SAMs especially grievance redressal systems was carried out for India and other countries. Its examples were documented and shared with the ULBs in the three cities, illustrating to them that however small an initiative may be, it could move them towards becoming more accountable. This initiative has not only helped the ULB officials and staff to have a better understanding regarding SAMs, but also cleared their doubts and apprehensions towards adopting and institutionalizing some of these. b) Situation Analysis of current Social Accountability Mechanisms in Ranchi,

Raipur and Varanasi

The situation analysis of the current social accountability mechanisms was carried out in two phases: (i) objective, before any kind of orientation to the ULB staff or citizens and; (ii) detailed, following orientation about SAMs. The exercise involved evaluating the situation and trends that were present at the ULBs in context to the existing citizen interface and grievance redressal. This was necessary to judge the strengths and deficiencies within the current system. It provided a context specific information base for each city and gave direction to city specific strategies. It also gave us the clear picture of the existing level of awareness, accessibility, inclusiveness, citizen friendliness and efficiency of the current accountability systems. It also helped to highlight the constraints and the problems faced by the ULBs and the citizens regarding these.




c) Capacity Building of Municipal Officers and Elected Representatives and CTAG members

A number of media were used to raise the interest of municipal officers in the three cities towards improving the accountability of their respective ULBs. Joint meetings of the CTAG, elected representatives, citizens and the ULB officials were organised so that service related issues could be discussed on a single platform. A number of presentations were given by PRIA on various legislations such as Community Participation Law, RTI Act, Public Disclosure Law etc. besides those on effective grievance redressal systems. Special efforts were made to include women in these orientations as they are worst affected by problems related to basic services such as water and sanitation. Another form of capacity building has been through sharing documents responding to specific needs expressed by the officials themselves. d) Exposure Visit To Hyderabad

One of the major activities planned within the project was to carry out an exposure visit for ULB officers, elected representatives and CTAG members of the study cities. Care was taken to include both men and women in the group to maintain a gender balance. Hyderabad is a city known for its efficient service delivery and state of the art mechanisms being used for grievance redressal that ensure accountability as well as citizens‟ trust. Many innovative practices of the 'Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation' as well as the „Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board‟ had elements that could be replicated or contextually adapted by other cities. Therefore, PRIA organized an exposure visit to Hyderabad for municipal officers, CTAG members and elected representatives from all the project cities from 25th to 28th October 2009. Other participants included 5 PRIA staff from national and city levels working on the same project, two senior officials from WSP and two members from the JnNURM NTAG cell. Overall the Exposure visit was quite successful as participants could identify the gaps in the running of these mechanisms and were also able to select some of the best practices to adopt, suggesting at the same time a few changes in them so that they prove to be favorable and run effectively in their states. The visit resulted in smaller learning curves as people learnt more in limited time by observing others. The participants then shared their experiences in their respective cities in a series of meetings.

Figure: The Public Relations Officers at the Citizens’

Centre at the Zonal GHMC office, (Kapra Circle)




SPECIFIC INITIATIVES INCLUDE

1. Citizens side There was a regular interface with the citizens of the two select wards of each city in the form of series of area sabhas, mohalla sabhas and tolla-level (cluster level) meetings. These meetings were used as a tool to spread awareness among the citizens about social accountability mechanisms especially how the grievance redressal mechanisms work in their respective ULBs. The community was encouraged to bring out the local problems regarding sanitation and water supply and to prioritize their problems as per their needs. They were also made aware that they could register their complaints at the municipality and use RTI etc.

Orientation on social accountability tools: Orientation was done on their need and

importance in the present day, was done at different levels – citizens, citizen leaders, area sabha representatives.

Figure: L- Shri Yedukondalu Kampati, Dy. Director, E-seva Initiative explaining the system to the participants R- Token Machine in E-Seva Centre




Figure: Joint orientation of Area sabha representatives of booth no. 420 & 421A in Ranchi on SAMs (left); Orientation programme organized at the PRIA office for the area sabha representatives (right).

Encouraging the community to use existing systems and test the new improved

mechanisms in municipality. The community were informed by the PRIA team of different mechanisms that were available within each municipality like the single window system facility at Raipur and Ranchi, the Safai chowkis available at Varanasi, the toll free number started at Ranchi etc. All these developments were publicized among the community in the form of posters at ULBs, posters at various places within the neighbourhoods and also through wall writings.

Figure : The help line numbers of the ULBs being publicized among the citizens through posters,

boards and wall writings in the three project cities

The help line numbers of the ULBs publicized among the citizens through posters,

boards and wall writings




Box 1: Usage of complaint system in Raipur by Area Sabha Representative

Ms. Sayra Bano, an ASR of poling booth no.332 in ward 32 in Raipur, conducted meeting with the

some citizens of her area in May 2010 to discuss the issues of the area. With her consistent efforts and

support of PRIA, Ms. Bano encouraged the people to use the single window system for the improper

disposal of garbage and littering done even after the sweepers had cleaned the drains. This choked

all the drains of the area and impacted the general health and environment of the area. Along with

some key citizens, Ms. Sayra Bano went to the zone municipal office to register their complaint on

10/5/2010. She detailed out the problem in prescribed complaint form and submitted it in single

window system. Soon after, she got the acknowledgement receipt of complaint where three days

duration was mentioned to redress the grievance but it was taken care of within one day and the

sweepers of the area picked up garbage on 11/5/2010.

Box 2: Drinking water problem solved by usage of Grievance redressal System (GRS)

Mr. Anil Choudhuri, Area Sabha Representative of Booth No. 363 and 365, ward no. 33 in Ranchi has

been actively involved in awareness creation regarding GRS. He attends weekly meetings of SHG

and discusses the problems of the area. On 3rd May 2010, the members of SHG reported that the

Hand pump of the area on which 30 families were dependent for drinking water was defunct. The

compliant was registered in the ULB. It was allotted GRS No. 251. The hand pump was repaired on

8th May 2010. The pipe of the pump was also replaced. There is a feeling of contentment among the

people as it has increased the credibility of the GRS system.

Municipal staff repairing the hand pump can be seen in picture




2. ULBs side

In all the three cities, the status of the complaint mechanisms in the ULBs was at different stages. Where on one hand a city had some complaint mechanisms through telephone, on the other hand another city had the facility to register the citizen complaints through the municipality website. Thus, after becoming aware of the existing situation in context to the level and modes of complaint registration and grievance redressal, there were city specific interventions that were taken to further improve the situation. So city specific interventions were taken:

State Level Consultations held on Social Accountability Mechanism A series of structured and non-structured meetings were held with municipal officials, employees and elected representatives to discuss new initiatives in improving grievance redressal mechanisms and to make the ULB more accountable:

- The informal meetings helped to strategize ways to improve upon/ focus on areas that needed improvement. The higher officials started pressurizing different section officers to timely submit status reports of grievance redressal

- The team also rendered regular technical support to the complaint counter like improving the recording format, insisting for receipt to be given to the complainant and getting the help line number activated

- The structured meetings and events helped to focus on the grievance redressal mechanisms and the improvements required in a more focused manner. Figure: Meeting held with the municipal officials regarding the progress and update of the

grievance redressal mechanisms at the Ranchi Municipal Corporation in May, 2010 (left and right)

„single window system‟ for redressing grievances of citizens at the zonal level.

- The Raipur Municipal Corporation started the „single window system‟ for redressing grievances of citizens at the zonal level in the month of August 2009, as an instant response to the first phase of status analysis of SAMs under the project. This was a very positive step as now citizens had geographical




proximity to the ULB and the zonal office staff was the best informed to handle complaints of its local area.

- Citizens are now proactively used the single window system for solving the service delivery problem. About 20 complaints were registered by citizens from ward nos. 34 and 66 and 17 complaints were redressed within the stipulated time.

Figure : Citizens of Raipur gathered at a zonal office to use the Single Window System to

register their complaints

„Complaint Registration Cell‟ opened and a full time staff member deputed at the at the corporation to register complaints. On December 2009, Ranchi Municipal Corporation set up complaint counter (Window – 7) to improve its complaint management. The Office Superintendent of RMC with support of IT section and HR Manager are handling the grievance redressal system. What needs to be done is to formulate a mechanism of follow up of the process of registration

Format prepared for complaint tracking for monthly record of complaints: A format has been prepared with the team‟s help to respond to the queries and for the monthly report that has to be submitted on a regular basis at the head office by all the zonal offices. Complaint tracking is carried out by the corporation with the help of a monthly record of complaints, which is maintained at the zonal level.




Improvements made in recording complaints Written acknowledgement given to every complaint registered, containing a receipt and a complaint number.

Commissioner reviews the status of complaints on a monthly basis and the zonal

commissioners on a weekly basis. This puts pressure on all the staff to respond seriously to all complaints.

The PRIA team facilitated in the improvement of the system of recording the complaints and developed a register with different columns of information. Columns in the register are: Date, grievance number, Name of complainant and address, contact number and e-mail, landmark, details of complaint, path of complaint, concerned section, date of transfer of grievance to section, process of compliance, status of grievance redressal, date of redressal, number of days taken for compliance/ action.

Toll free helpline numbers activated. Steps were taken to publish the help line number in the newspaper - action on disseminating the new grievance redressal mechanisms and toll free help line number through newspapers and other IEC materials.

Figure: Snap shot of the Grievance redressal software used by the Ranchi Municipal

Corporation to keep a systematic record of the complaints




CHALLENGES FACED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL MECHANISMS WITHIN THE CITIES

The following challenges were faced in the course of improvisation and improvements made in the existing grievance redressal mechanisms within the project cities:

There is lack of infrastructure (Computers etc) in different sections to receive and record complaints.

While assessment of existing Social Accountability Mechanisms, the main challenge wasthat there was no tracking system for complaints thus it was impossible to assess the ULBs performance in this area.

In context to the interface with the citizens, at some places the ward councilors avoided participating in community meetings. Even though the ASR and citizen leaders gave the information about the each area sabha meeting beforehand to the ward councilor.

Though the citizens were supported and encouraged to test the available modes of grievance redressal, but in some cases the ward councillor became insecure and threatened by the intervention as if his/her power was being taken away. Such elected representatives discouraged people to use these mechanisms.

There were major management problems existing within the municipalities, as there was often shuffling and transfer of the officials and staff, especially municipal commissioners who had become our good contact points and were encouraging the project. They were resource persons who helped to provide the necessary information and even helped to get appointments with the higher-level officials. But these untimely transfers posed as major constraints to achieve our project goals in time and the team had to start from scratch and orient the new officials again.

LEARNINGS

Instead of trying to reform all the processes at once and encounter massive resistance, it is advisable to break it into small components and tackle them one at a time.

One of the major learnings of this initiative has been that citizen awareness and appreciation of the services would put the onus on the departments/ officials to sustain the service levels and explore enhancements.

Efforts involved in creation of agents of change at the community level, like with the help of Area sabha representatives and Citizen leaders, has turned out to be very fruitful. They not only helped in increasing the interaction and interface with the citizens of the project sites, but also contributed to carry out various activities, events and area sabhas with the citizens.




Positive results of any system encourage the citizens to use it more and participate in building a positive environment in favour of the system as is illustrated by case studies and stories from the three cities.

Team spirit, clear set priorities and coordination and effective knowledge sharing among cities is essential to achieve good results.

Effective knowledge sharing illustrated with the help best practices, case studies based on practical experiences, conducting exposure visits, having regular structured and non-structured dialogues help in achieving the desired results.

Direct interaction with service providers through the use of technology is one approach to enhance customer leverage.

The poor depend on more informal grievance redressal procedures involving local politicians, street leaders, lower level bureaucrats, and neighborhood associations. So systems should be designed in such a manner that seem accessible and approachable to all the cadres of society including the marginalised sections.