Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur directed the state officers to accord top priority to ensuring redressal of grievances of people at the earliest so that they are not harassed due to unnecessary delay in getting their grievances redressed.

The chief minister was presiding over a review meeting of Mukhya Mantri Sewa Sankalp Helpline-1100 here on Tuesday.

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Thakur said the state government had launched ‘Mukhya Mantri Sewa Sankalp Helpline-1100’ to solve the problems of people at the earliest and easily by saving time and money of the seekers. He said that this Helpline and Jan Manch have been proving boon to the people in redressal of their grievances at their door steps.

Thakur said that as many as 789756 calls related to 84 departments had been received on Helpline-1100 out of which 153970 were complaints, 13682 demand/suggestions and 622104 information/ followup calls and 17946 calls on Officer’s Help Desk since its launch.

He said that 98132 complaints were closed after satisfaction of complainants.

Thakur said that proper analysis of the complaints must be done so that the concerned departments could get data regarding the main reason of the complaints. He said that this would not only ensure proper redressal of public grievances but also satisfy the seekers. He said that since 10 major departments viz. Jal Shakti, PWD, Panchayati Raj, Revenue, HPSEBL, Police, Rural Development, HRTC, Forests and Urban Development Departments contributes to 81 percent of the total complaints, therefore, stress should be made for their early redressal.

The chief minister said that although the satisfactory closure rate has increased substantially from last year but efforts should be made to enhance the same. He said the satisfactory closure percentage of Jal Shakti Vibhag was highest with 72 percent whereas the overall state level closure percentage was 64 percent.

While expressing concern over the large number of pendency at L4 stage, Chief Minister said that the administrative secretaries must give special thrust on redressal of grievances and pendency should be viewed seriously. He said that policy should be framed for blocking abusive, irrelevant and frequent callers as this un-necessarily causes embarrassment to the concerned departments.

He also appreciated the functioning of all those working in Helpline.

Thakur said that although the Helpline was meant for redressal of public grievances, demands raised by the general public must also be given due consideration. He said that this would give proper feedback to the government regarding demands of the particular area. He also lauded the efforts of few Deputy Commissioners for their initiatives in the respective districts for early redressal of public grievances.

Information Technology Minister Dr. Ram Lal Markanda said that Mukhya Mantri Sewa Sanklap Yojna has proved boon to the common public for early redressal of their grievances. He said that this has proved how information technology could be effectively used for good governance.

Chief Secretary Anil Khachi said that data driven opinion was vital for overall development of the state. He said that all the departments must analyse their own achievements and goals. He also felt the need for redefining attributes and timelines for various goals.

Secretary Information Technology Rajneesh made a detailed presentation on the occasion.

Additional Chief Secretaries Ram Subhag Singh, Sanjay Gupta, Manoj Kumar and RD Dhiman, Principal Secretaries JC Sharma, Onkar Sharma and KK Pant, Secretaries Sandeep Bhatnagar, Vikas Labroo and Amitabh Awasthi and other senior officers also attended the meeting.