West Bengal govt launches call centre service to address grievances

With rural polls in the state announced and Lok Sabha elections due next year, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, launched a new service enabling state’s residents to reach out directly to the chief minister’s office, and register their grievances.

Named “Sorasori Mukhyomantri” (Directly, with the CM), the platform has a call centre, and a field validation units. Around 500 tele-callers will be receiving the call, and another 100 field validation personnel will be in the field for validation and analysis of information. The entire operation is being supervised by the chief minister’s office.

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The call centre will be accessible by dialing 91370 91370, Monday to Saturday between 9 am and 6 pm, except on public holidays.

The new set-up will resolve the citizens’ grievances within seven working days. The state government, an official note adds, “will work to further state government’s commitment to transparent, accountable and responsible governance for common people at the grassroots”.

A monitoring of programme implementation and grievance cell (at the CMO) has been active since October, 2019. The cell has taken care of 22 lakh grievances that were received through phone calls, text messages, as hard copy, and via emails through Bangla Sahayata Kendras - the one-stop service delivery centres at the local levels. “Working in coordination with the state government departments, districts and other stakeholders, more than 98.20 per cent of such grievances have been effectively disposed to the satisfaction of the complainants,” the note added.

At the city level, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has the “Talk to Mayor”, a weekly initiative, where citizens call up to share their grievances.