Lucknow among five worst performers in IGRS ranking

Lucknow Municipal Corporation ranked fourth worst in the state for complaint resolution, facing scrutiny for unresolved issues and alleged fake disposals.

Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has once again come under scrutiny after it figured among the worst-performing municipal bodies in the state.

(For representation)

In the monthly ranking of the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) for November, Lucknow secured the fourth spot from the bottom of the list.

Only Moradabad, Ayodhya and Varanasi performed worse than Lucknow. Kanpur Nagar was placed a spot higher than Lucknow. What has further embarrassed the civic administration is the fact that several smaller cities and districts have fared better than Lucknow. The top performers for November were Prayagraj, Shahjahanpur and Ghaziabad. Officials attributed their better performance to regular monitoring of complaints, stricter accountability of officers and field-level verification before closing cases.

Officials aware of issues plaguing the city said its falling rank was not merely a result of administrative apathy, but also due to alleged fake disposal of complaints. Several grievances were shown as resolved on the chief minister’s portal, while complainants claimed no actual relief was provided, they added.

Of the 1,967 complainants who submitted feedback related to Lucknow Municipal Corporation last month, 1,061 stated that their issues were not resolved at all. Additionally, 12 complaints were found to have been pending for several months, while 742 grievances remained unresolved till December 9.

The poor ranking has drawn the attention of the chief minister’s office. Principal secretary to CM Sanjay Prasad wrote to the principal secretary of Urban Development on December 8, flagging the issue and conveying the chief minister’s dissatisfaction over the dismal performance of municipal corporations in resolving public complaints.

On November 7, the public grievance section-5 of the urban development department had reiterated that timely and quality disposal of public complaints remained one of the government’s highest priorities.

Responding to the claims, city mayor Sushma Kharkwal, “I have asked the municipal commissioner to explain why the ranking is poor.,” she said.

Meanwhile, additional municipal commissioner AK Rao said, “Things are improving and we are focussing on improving the mechanism and solving the complaint quickly to the satisfaction of residents. Strict action would be taken against the officials if they don’t solve the complaints but display it as solved on the portal.”

Meanwhile, Mukesh Singh Chauhan, a city corporator representing the Congress in the LMC house, said, “Sanitation-related issues continue to dominate the complaint charts, with residents flagging garbage accumulation and unhygienic conditions across many parts of the city. Non-functional street lights are another major source of public anger, with a large number of complaints registered every month. It’s for the officials to explain why Lucknow lags behind in complaint redressal of residents.”