In a significant milestone in the efforts towards redressal of public grievances, the Government today launched a unique website which makes the process online, easier and more accessible to the public. It enables them not only to register their grievances online about the working of 14 Ministries/ Departments but also check the status in Internet of their grievances and send reminders online. Earlier, people had to send a letter/ fax or visit the office of DPG in person for this purpose.
The new online system set up by the Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG) under the Cabinet Secretariat was launched by the Minister of State for Planning, Programme Implementation, Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Shri Arun Shourie at a function here today on Feb 18, 2000 in New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Shourie observed that it was a part of the Government's efforts to usher in greater transparency and improve access to the public using online technology. Emphasising the need to achieve a responsive administration, the Minister urged the public to ensure that citizen's charters drawn up by various Departments were not merely on paper but must be online too. He called upon the people to be vigilant and ensure the implementation of citizen's charters by the Government agencies. Shri Shourie pointed out that this online website would prove particularly useful for the North-Eastern region which has high literacy levels and a growing telecommunication infrastructure. As a result of this website, he pointed out that people living in remote areas could instantaneously register their grievances online and secure redress.
In his address, the Cabinet Secretary, Shri Prabhat Kumar emphasised need for creating an efficient and responsive online grievance redressal mechanism which he observed was "a basic plank" of good governance. He also stressed the need for ensuring reasonably "high levels of satisfaction" among the users of various Government services.
The DPG website http://www.dpg.bharatsarkar.nic.in. is linked to the online computerised system of registering and monitoring grievances. This website will enable the public to directly register grievances with DPG by accessing it through the internet. The system will automatically provide the complainant with a registration number as acknowledgement. While earlier the public had to send a letter, FAX or visit the DPG office in person to check on the status of their grievances, with the new system the individual, by simply logging his registration number into the website, would be able to check the status at any time of the day and sitting anywhere in the country or abroad.
It is the first fully automated system of its kind under the Central Government. The system allows monitoring of individual cases on a daily basis. In addition, it maintains a database of grievances received and settled, enabling generation of progress reports for department-wise analysis and systemic analysis. This can help improve the departmental redressal mechanism and also bring down the occurrence of grievances. The website contains the names, addresses and contact details of officers in the DPG to whom grievances could be sent.
Between 1994-99, DPG settled claims in respect of 76 % of cases while it found 24 % of cases not sustainable. 78 % of complaints during this five-year period pertained to delay, 12 % to wrong decisions, 3 % to bad behaviour while the remaining 7 % fell under the miscellaneous category. The number of cases settled in favour of complainants rose steadily from 838 in 1994-95 to 1648 in 1998-99.
The Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG) was set up under the Cabinet Secretariat in April, 1988, with requisite authority to deal with those grievances of individuals, which have not been redressed for a long time by the concerned Ministry. Its recommendations are binding upon these departments/organisations. Initially DPG was to look into individual grievances relating to only four Ministries/Departments more prone to generating public grievances due to their wide interface with the public. Keeping in view the positive public response to the setting up of the DPG, its jurisdiction was extended over the years and now includes 14 Ministries/Departments viz. Railways, posts, banking and insurance sectors, to mention a few.
The number of grievances received in DPG each year has been increasing. Since inception to date, 19918 grievances have been taken up for investigation. Out of these, around 70 % have been settled in favour of complainants by the DPG's intervention.
The DPG does not deal with policy matters or where a grievance has already been disposed of at the level of the Minister. It also does not entertain grievances relating to service matters excluding those relating to the payment of terminal benefits, commercial contracts or cases, which are subjudice or where quasi-judicial procedures are prescribed for decision making.
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