launching mobile applications for grievance redressal is turning out to be the latest trend among government agencies. A fresh entrant in the league is the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) which is set to launch an ‘NDMC’ app for lodging complaints.
Going a step further, the agency has planned to make it a photo-based app wherein people can complain by clicking pictures of anything from malfunctioning street lights or taps to dirty streets in the NDMC area. Not just this, the closure of a complaint will also be based on a photograph after it is addressed by the officials.
The civic body promises it to be an interactive mobile application wherein complainants will be able to register their grievance in the form of pictures and interact with officials on a real-time basis. “Despite expansive publicity not many have our helpline number. For calling on the helpline, normal call rates apply. Since we are narrowing down on making NDMC area wi-fi enabled, a mobile application for lodging complaints will only help in increasing the connectivity of the people with the NDMC,” said an official. The application will be available on the NDMC website (www.ndmc.gov.in) for free download by mid-June.
Apart from pictures, the agency will also have a drop-down menu listing 17 options. “We chose pictures as a medium because it is quick ad easy. Other than this, there will be a drop-down menu having complaint categories like water, power, sewer, dog, monkey and so on. If a complaint does not fit into any of these categories then there will be an ‘others’ option, tapping on which it will connect directly to our call centre,” said the official, adding that the agency intentionally did not keep the option of messaging to avoid misuse.
Not just the complainants, but even the official of the department concerned will have to send pictures depicting the repaired work to the complainant through the app. “A complaint will be closed only if the picture sent by our engineers or inspectors will be approved by the complainant. For this, we will equip our officials with mobile phones containing the app and a certain amount of money for internet services,” said an official. The application is expected to benefit the agency as it will decrease manpower, the agency claims.