Bengaluru civic body's Sahaaya grievance system helps, but can be better

The public grievance system is effective in most cases. However, BBMP needs to fix many issues to be 100% effective.

Last Updated : 01 December 2023, 19:56 IST

Bengaluru: Citizens of Whitefield in Bengaluru recently decided to do a footpath audit and record the complaints in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Sahaaya grievance system so that there is a record of the issue. Anjali Saini, an active resident from the Whitefield area, says that she logged about seven complaints, including poorly done optical fibre cable (OFC) chambers where anyone can trip and fall. In another place, cables were lying open, while the footpath was broken fully.

The complaint was assigned to the traffic engineering cell of the BBMP, “It was not big; it would have taken just two hours to fix it,” she says, adding that the complaints were marked as resolved without fixing the issues. When she confronted the official, he told her that the issue was a part of a big tender.

Complaints related to OFC remained unresolved. “I don't know why the OFC contractor can’t fix this. Nobody is answerable in the OFC department,” says Anjali, adding that a call from the ward engineer can quickly fix the issue with a call to the contractor. This is just one example of the problem in BBMP’s public grievance system.

Issues with Sahaaya app

BBMP’s helpline control room has phone numbers, WhatsApp number and sources complaints through multiple sources. One of the primary sources is the Sahaaya app.

The app that is supposed to be available at all major app stores is not available for phones with the latest versions of Android phones and iOS app store; hence, users with the latest Android phones or Apple phones cannot use the Sahaaya app.

Sandeep Anirudhan, a citizen activist, crowdsourced issues with the Sahaaya app. One of the issues highlighted is the ease of use with an intuitive user interface. “The menu interface is based on departmental hierarchy and responsibilities, which people who are not working in the dept or engage frequently with, will not be aware of. The average citizen will not know which particular issue comes under which department,” says a letter drafted by him to the Special Commissioner (IT), BBMP.

For example, an average citizen does not know Major Roads and Ward Engineering departments take care of different categories of roads and which roads come under which department.

His letter also says that some issues are difficult to find, and there are no options for some types of complaints, with no option to mark ‘others’.

The letter also talks about improvements in the dashboard with status display, chat interaction options with officials, fixing the glitches etc. It also says that the feedback loop inside BBMP is missing, as some departments keep calling even after the problem is solved.

A peek into Sahaaya system

Manjunath Swamy, Deputy Commissioner (administration), says that Sahaaya 2.0, the current public grievance system, is developed and maintained by the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC).

In addition to traditional calls and emails, complaints and grievances are sourced from Twitter, Facebook, newspapers, television, etc. Even the grievances that come to light in programmes like Janaspandana or those directed at the offices of the chief minister or the deputy chief minister are diverted to the Sahaaya redressal system.

When someone tags the Office of the Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister of Karnataka, known for effective complaint resolution, the complaints that fall under BBMP’s purview are assigned to BBMP Sahaaya.

The Sahaaya staff assign every complaint to one of the 24-25 categories and allocate it to the concerned officials in the respective zones or wards. The officials can check and solve the complaints, take photos, and upload them to the portal.

Depending on the nature of the complaints, they are given a timeframe to solve them. For example, street light complaints must be resolved within eight hours. Many issues are given upto seven days to solve.

Hope amid problems

Citizens complain of complaints getting marked as ‘resolved’ without actual resolution. Officials are aware of this issue. Swamy says that sometimes, issues like garbage complaints are back in no time, even if the issue is resolved, and people see the issue even after it is marked as ‘resolved’. He says the same thing happens with potholes and streetlights, too, while the other issues do not fall so much into this category.

Engineering issues are looked after by the zonal chief engineers. All other issues are looked after by joint commissioners in the zones. The mandate is that 99% of the cases should be solved at the zonal level.

The review meetings are conducted every Tuesday, and the pendency of cases is checked. Every week, the Sahaaya system receives more than 1500 complaints, and the same number of complaints are resolved, too, says Swamy.

A citizen noted that there is no option to reopen the complaint or escalate it to the higher authority if it is closed without resolution or if the complainant is unhappy. Officials agree that there is a need to have an option to reopen the complaint or dispute the resolution.

Another citizen said that a street light issue remained unresolved because the road was on the border of the ward, and the issue was assigned to an official from the other ward. Finally, he had to fight with the official to get it fixed. Swamy says that such issues cannot come up today as officials have been asked to either fix issues themselves or coordinate with other wards for speedy resolution.

Citizens say the assigned official is sometimes no longer at the job, or the contact numbers are incorrect. Swamy explains that sometimes the transferred official would have carried the phone number, which would not have been updated in the system, which leads to this problem. Officials promised to fix this issue soon.

Data shared by BBMP Sahaaya staff show that most complaints are related to solid waste management, road maintenance and street lights. The other major categories are animal control, tree issues, health issues, and road infrastructure. Stormwater drains and town planning complaints are also common in some zones. Officials boast of solving 97% of the problems within the stipulated time.

Complaints that come directly to the zonal offices are not shared with Sahaaya, and no one knows how the issues are tracked. Sources feel integrating zonal helplines with the Sahaaya system is better for tracking issues quickly.

What is the biggest challenge faced by Sahaaya staff? “Answering every question patiently without getting offended by the tone of the callers,” says Subramanya K, in charge of the Sahaaya control room. He adds that installing more CCTVs in underpasses and integrating CCTVs used by Bengaluru city police will help the system monitor issues like floods better during rains.

Towards one helpline for the entire city

Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), established under the Smart Cities Mission, aimed to bring data-centric solutions to urban challenges, will be at the heart of the citizen grievance system. Now in the trial mode, the ICCC is designed to be one helpline number for the entire city in future.

Out of 14 departments that are supposed to be integrated with ICCC’s system, eight have been integrated already: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre and the Health Department (ambulance division).

The call centre is only the front end of the ICCC. BBMP, BWSSB and BMRCL have been integrated into it already. BESCOM and BMTC are upgrading their softwares and are ready to be integrated into this. Once integrated, a call to 1533 will seamlessly connect a citizen to the public grievance system, encompassing all departments.

The data from these agencies collected at the ICCC is analysed, and insights are presented in such a way as to enable better decision-making, says Krishnakumar, an expert working at ICCC.

He says the air quality index, footfall at various metro stations, power usage and outage data, etc., are examples of the data that will become useful to policymakers and administrators once the ICCC starts functioning at a full scale.

This system comes in handy during disaster management as well. About 80 sensors are installed in stormwater drains located in low-lying areas, and live flood status data is recorded at the ICCC. When there is rain and flood, that data can be used to alert the system and warn people, say officials.

After the successful trial run, the ICCC is now awaiting formal inauguration.