States turn a blind eye to citizen grievances, raises question marks over Modi’s governance plan

By NewsGram Staff Writer

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's good governance program might face some trouble. More than 1.2 lakh complaints lodged by citizens on an online portal, have been neglected by the states, especially those run by the opposition. The Central government has reminded the states that almost 90, 000 complaints have been pending for over a year.

The NDA government had carried forward UPA's initiative to let people register their complaints online through Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). This program was launched by the UPA government in the year 2007, which was later expanded to the states in 2010.

The central government is afraid that this negligence on the part of the states will reflect its own performance in a bad light.

As reported by The Economic Express, Alok Rawat, secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) says, "Sushasan or good governance is a cornerstone of an effective administration. An effective grievance redressal system mechanism is a critical part thereof. One of the biggest concerns of the Government of India is how to make the public service delivery system more citizen centric."

The Economic Times reports, "Nearly one-fifth of the 1.74 lakh citizen grievances received on CPGRAMS pertains to states, and remains pending. Of these 1,11,946 have been pending with various states for over two months, the deadline fixed by UPA to dispose of citizen grievances, while 89,952 complaints have been pending for over a year, roughly the time since the Modi government assumed charge".

The report shows that states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana have a disposal percentage of just 2 per cent apiece while Karnataka and Assam have notched up a grievance disposal record of just 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Bihar had a disposal rate of 27 per cent while BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh disposed off 24 per cent of the complaints pertaining to it.