PGR Day Turns Out As Effective Platform For Quick Redressal of Grievances

A Correspondent

Hailakandi: Come Tuesdays, complainants make a beeline to the Deputy Commissioner’s office premises to ventilate their grievances and get redressal. The public grievance redressal mechanism has turned out to be an effective platform for scores of people, especially poor and needy in southern Assam’s Hailakandi district to file complaints in a hassle free manner and get quick redressal of their grievances.

Having exhausted other options, people make it to Public Grievances Redressal Day on Tuesdays for help and support from the administration. Their grievances are being heard either by the heads or senior officials of the concerned departments. Many filed complaints, some in desperation to get the much-needed relief, in certain cases instantly.

The complaints ranged from land disputes to pension and allotment of houses. Initially the decision to form a public grievances redressal forum of this kind was predictably greeted with scepticism. But now even the most hardened critics are coming around. The people’s response to it has certainly been enthusiastic, with an average of almost 40-55 complaints coming every Tuesday.

Almost one-third concerned the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, relating mainly to problems of land acquisition, ownership disputes and storm related compensation. The other departments named frequently in the petitions were health, public health engineering, municipal board, panchayat and rural development, education and social welfare.

Allegations of corruption against government officials and employees were also probed into and action initiated in some genuine cases. Even complaints of swindling of public money in welfare oriented schemes and projects were also enquired into and appropriate action leading to filing of FIRs against the corrupt, including contractors were initiated.

Due to the peculiar requirements of individual cases, PGR officials have to bring unusual skills to their jobs – tact and understanding in solving cases.

An old lady who had come seeking financial help was promised Old Age Pension. Upon DC’s instruction, the officer of the concerned department visited the residence of the aged lady to collect documents for her enrollment under government pension scheme, as she could not go from office to office. Instances are galore where the complainants got instant respite.

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