Yogi govt links complaint disposal to bureaucrats’ ACR

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday launched 1076 -- the chief minister’s 24x7 helpline – with a stern message to top bureaucrats that their ability to dispose of complaints would also find a mention in their annual confidential reports (ACRs). He reiterated that consistent poor performance would invite pink slips.

“I will review the number of cases received on a monthly basis, identify 100 most important unattended complaints, get them cleared and fix accountability of those who had to attend to them,” Yogi said during the helpline’s launch at Lok Bhavan, the chief minister’s office. The helpline, backed by a 500-staff strong call centre, was on trial run for the past one year and even though some glitches remained, the CM said it has become operational from Thursday.

“Complaints can be made from anywhere on the helpline and once logged, the complaint would remain active in the system until it’s settled,” Yogi said adding that the grievance redress mechanism was designed to make the system responsive to the poor man at the village and district levels.

He recalled that within the first year of his government, 22 lakh complainants travelled to meet him in Lucknow to get their grievances redressed.

“We could settle 20 lakh complaints but that got me thinking as to why people needed to travel to Lucknow in the first place. The CM’s helpline is part of that effort and tailored to make the administration attentive and sensitive to the poor,” he said.

“Once a complaint is received, the CM’s helpline managers would direct it to the officer concerned who would then be required to get back to the complainant and redress the grievance in a time bound manner. Once cleared, the CM’s helpline people would verify if the complainant is satisfied. If the complainant isn’t satisfied, action would be taken against the officer who claimed the case was resolved,” Yogi said.