Hyderabad: Telangana is among the states with the lowest number of active grievances pending as of August 7, according to data by the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).
Data shows that 92 cases were filed since August 1, and 44 cases have been brought forward from the previous week. 105 were disposed of, leaving 31 pending cases. The data was revealed in a response to a Right To Information (RTI) query filed by city-based activist Robin Zaccheus.
In a list of state-wise number of active and disposed cases, it was revealed that the government of Madhya Pradesh is leading with the most number of pending cases with 99204 cases waiting to be addressed.
Andhra Pradesh has 34519 cases, of which 148 were registered in the course of last week.
The wide gap in the number of grievances filed in Telangana compared to other major states is surprising. “It is a week’s data, so it cannot show the full picture. However, it is surprising that such a small amount of cases are being filed in Telangana. Perhaps it is a lack of public awareness about the redressal portal,” said Robin.
A closer look at patterns in the data from 2014 will provide a more detailed insight into how the system is actually working, points out Robin. “A lot of cases have been pending for over a year. The 30-day redressal is not entirely accurate,” he added.
Cases remain pending nationwide
In July 2022, Union minister for public grievances and pensions Dr Jitendra Singh said that a complaint received from a citizen will not be closed until an appeal filed against it is disposed of. He also stated that the redressal time has been brought down to 30 days from the previous window of 45 days to ensure that all complaints are disposed of effectively.
However, data shows that a huge number of cases are brought forward from the previous months in many union departments. For example, 171 cases in the Central Board for Direct Taxes, and 193 cases in the defence department have been pending for over a year.
If a case has not been addressed in 30 days due to “circumstances beyond the control of the government,” the complainant will receive an interim response. In this way, the number of unaddressed cases falls drastically. However, the amount of time it takes for their redressal is anyone’s guess.
Along with state-wise data, the reply also showed that the number of grievances being filed through the portal has steadily been increasing over the past three years.
12,34,270 cases were filed nationwide through the portal in 2021 compared to the 11,82,844 cases filed in the previous year.
Since August 1, nationally, CPGRAMS received the most number of grievances related to the state governments, followed by civic amenities, police, housing, land-related and COVID-19-related issues.
What is the CPGRAMS?
The Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is an online platform by the central government and is available for citizens 24/7. The portal has been continuously revamped over the years since its inception in 2014.
CPGRAMS has a mobile application that can be downloaded from the Google Play store and a mobile application integrated with UMANG.
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