Pune: Civic administration has ordered departments concerned to address all grievances on priority after it was highlighted that over 500 online complaints raised by residents awaited redressal and 300 of these were pending for more than three weeks.Maximum unaddressed complaints are related to health and road departments, followed by ward offices and drainage. People have lodged their complaints on the PG portal and Aaple Sarkar forum. State govt has launched both portals to enable citizens to put forth their issues online, instead of visiting ward offices.Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) additional commissioner Prajit Nair has issued a circular directing all departments to clear the pendency in a couple of days. He said to ensure that each complainant got a proper reply and no grievance was closed without a suitable reason. Nair has said that henceforth, department heads must ensure that all complaints received through online PG and Aaple Sarkar portals are handled on priority.Residents are unhappy and have been expressing displeasure over PMC’s lack of response to problems raised via online formats. They said complaints were closed suddenly, without a proper redressal and before PMC took corrective measures. Residents also said abrupt closure of grievances was happening, despite top civic officials warning department heads to not close complaints before corrective action.Civic activist Vikram Gaikwad said the huge pendency of complaints showed that the administration was not serious about addressing civic issues. “Many are frustrated over PMC’s inaction and false responses to online complaints. The overall system of online redressal of complaints is not functioning effectively. We have been pressing for improvement of responses by civic administration,” Gaikwad said.Meanwhile, pendency on Aaple Sarkar is 327, of which 161 complaints have been pending for over three weeks. Pendency on the PG portal is 183, of which 150 complaints are pending for more than three weeks.
