Karnataka to launch multi-platform system to redress public grievances soon

This Kannada Rajyotsava, the Basavaraj Bommai administration will formally launch a multi-platform public grievance redressal system, which the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition had announced three years ago.

The integrated public grievance redressal system (IPGRS), known as Janaspandana, promises to be a one-stop-shop for citizens to raise complaints on any government scheme or service.

It comes with 1902 as the helpline - the number was allotted to Karnataka by the Communications ministry in April this year - for citizens to flag their issues. Also, it will be available on the web and an Android app. Essentially, Janaspandana subsumes numerous helplines and web portals set up by different departments to hear public grievances.

Modelled after the Centralized Public Grievance Redress & Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) run by the Centre providing 24/7 online support for citizens, Karnataka’s IPGRS will cater to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s plan to make his government more accessible and efficient in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls.

e-Governance officials have spent the last couple of months understanding how the system responds to grievances raised by citizens during the IPGRS dry run. “We have learnt and improved the system. We’re confident now to take this to the public,” Additional Chief Secretary (e-Governance) Rajeev Chawla said.

During its pilot phase, Janaspandana IPGRS received 1,583 grievances and many pertained to the Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department. The Janaspandana app has a rating of 3.3 out of five on the Google Play store.

“Right now, we’re getting 200-300 calls daily,” Chawla said and added that this would go up to 3,000-4,000 after the formal launch. “We hadn’t informed citizens about this.”

Janaspandana will cover 600 schemes and services provided by the government. Each grievance raised by a citizen is mapped to a specific Last Mile Functionary (LMF) of the respective department for that particular scheme or service. Also, three levels of officers will examine the grievance and resolve it within a timeframe.

“Once the grievance is redressed, an ‘Action Taken Report’ gets generated and it is made available to citizens in the portal and also feedback of the citizens is captured. If the citizens’ feedback is ‘not satisfactory’, the system automatically escalates the grievance to a higher officer for review,” the Janaspandana website - ipgrs.karnataka.gov.in - explains.

The IPGRS was announced in the July 2018 budget presented by the then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

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