Centre pulls up Maharashtra government for backlog of citizen grievances

As of September 2023, 2,113 complaints lodged with the central government remain unattended by state authorities

Mumbai: The central government has criticised Maharashtra's state government for failing to address thousands of citizen grievances filed over the past year. As of September 2023, 2,113 complaints lodged with the central government remain unattended by state authorities.

The General Administrative Department has now directed all departments to address the outstanding grievances promptly. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

Until 18 September 2023, the central government operated the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) for complaints related to state government departments. CPGRAMS was subsequently merged with the Maharashtra government's Aaple Sarkar 0.2 platform, with state departments instructed to address pending complaints on the central system.

Despite four special drives initiated by the state government since 25 August 2022 to tackle the CPGRAMS backlog, various departments failed to resolve the issues. In response, the central government has expressed its dissatisfaction in a strongly worded letter to state authorities.

The General Administrative Department has now directed all departments to address the outstanding grievances promptly. An official from the department stated, "The central government has been conducting periodic reviews of the pending grievances, and the state government has repeatedly assured them of resolution. However, the persistent backlog despite these assurances has been taken seriously by the central government. They have sent us a strongly worded letter demanding swift redressal of the grievances. We have now warned the coordinating officers to improve their performance or face consequences."

Coordinators have been instructed to address the complaints during a special drive scheduled between 1 and 15 September.

Among the pending complaints, the highest number, 487, relate to revenue matters, followed by 245 in agriculture, 156 in rural development, and 109 in urban development.