Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said officials should do more to maintain the public satisfaction levels vis-a-vis governmental performance.
“While officials claim that 70 per cent of complaints are being resolved, the fact is that public satisfaction in the governance process continues to decline. This would erode the public's trust in the government,” he said.
Naidu was addressing the Collectors’ Conference here. He said every complaint/grievance from the public should be resolved. Non-financial issues should be resolved completely. There is no room for a compromise in this, he made clear to the collectors and other senior officials.
He told the officials that priority should be given to the issues raised by the people’s representatives.
Responding to a presentation given by the officials on the Public Grievance Redressal System (PGRS), the CM said, “If we are solving problems, good; but the public is not satisfied with the work we are doing. There is a gap between the expectations of the people and the work we are doing. We should assess this issue and solve the problems.”
He said that non-financial problems should be resolved 100 per cent. “District collectors should randomly ask the people about whether their problems are being solved. We should identify pending problems and look into those from a humane perspective. If it is still not possible to solve the problem, the complainant should be informed about it.”
The chief minister noted that in court cases, “the poor are unable to fight the strong.”
“If we feel that justice is on the side of the poor, we should consider whether legal aid can be provided to such people. The people gave me the mandate to rule the state. They have many aspirations and hopes. I want you to respect the people’s representatives when they raise the problems of the people. Give priority to solving the problems they brought before you.”
General Administration Department Secretary Suresh Kumar said in a presentation at the meeting, ”From June 15 to Nov 30, the government received a total of 1.69 lakh complaints from the public. Out of these, 1.39 lakh complaints have been resolved and 10,000 problems have been reopened for resolution.”
He said problems related to the revenue department formed the largest number. “These are mostly complaints related to land records, crime, land encroachment, complaints against secretariat employees and complaints related to house plots.”
