BMC’s e-complaint registration system not working properly

While indefinite delays in attending to complaints made by citizens on civic issues is a common grouse levelled against the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body’s mechanism to address citizens’ concerns seems to be failing at the first step itself: registration of complaints.

While indefinite delays in attending to complaints made by citizens on civic issues is a common grouse levelled against the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body’s mechanism to address citizens’ concerns seems to be failing at the first step itself: registration of complaints.

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Though the civic body has begun work on its ambitious plan to transform to a paperless, e-office soon, it still needs to work on its online portal that has been giving problems to citizens since the past few months as civic complaints do not get submitted on the website from all internet servers.

“After filling in all the details of the complaint and clicking on the ‘submit’ option, the webpage showing the complaint number does not open. Hence the complaint does not get lodged,” said Irfan Machiwala, Mahim resident.

“I have been trying to register a complaint related to uneven footpaths and uncollected garbage from pavements in my area on the website since the past couple of months but the complaint just does not get registered,” added Machiwala.

“It is primarily a browser issue. The system with which the complaint registration tab has been devised is designed for Internet Explorer and hence it does not work on any other browser. But citizens who wish to lodge any complaints can also call on the helpline – 1916,” said a civic official.

However, some citizens have given up on lodging complaints online as their past experiences suggest that the complaints are often not followed.