In an attempt to quickly address public grievances and offer on-the-spot solutions to people’s problems, the district administration has decided to conduct Kalaburagi Spandana programme.
Addressing a media conference at his office here on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Yeshwanth Gurukar said that the programme is a first-of-its-kind in the State.
“The programme will be held at the end of every month at my office. Public grievances will be heard and discussed throughout the day to offer solutions on the spot. We have already given a WhatsApp number to the people where they can raise their issues. Complaints and issues raised through this number will be taken up for discussion at the Kalaburagi Spandana programme. The district heads of all the departments will be present in the meeting to find solutions,” Mr. Gurukar said.
Those who are not using WhatsApp, Mr. Gurukar said, can directly come to the programme and raise their case. “We have already resolved 130 of the 570 cases submitted through WhatsApp,” the officer said.
On complaints regarding problems that crop up in disbursement of benefits under various pension schemes, Mr. Gurukar said that his administration will shortly launch a programme to ensure that the problems are solved within 72 hours.
“Senior citizens, the differently-abled, widows, unmarried or divorced women whose annual income is less than ₹32,000 are eligible for the social security programme of pension. If they call the toll free number 155245 requesting for pension, their application will be approved within 72 hours,” Mr. Gurukar said.
As per the information he provided, 2.42 people are getting benefits of various social pension schemes and there are another 7,000 eligible people who are yet to be brought under the scheme. “When I took charge as Deputy Commissioner, only 48% of the eligible beneficiaries were getting benefits under various social pension schemes and now, 99% of them are getting benefits,” Mr. Gurukar said.
The officer also noted that Kalaburagi district has obtained the fourth place in the State as far as disposing of applications under Sakala services is concerned.
“When I assumed office, the district stood 16th in disposing of Sakala applications. Now, it has climbed to the fourth place. As for disposal of revenue-related applications at Atalji Janasnehi Kendra, the district has similarly jumped from the 28th place to the fourth place. Besides, the district has also made significant progress in disposal of applications through the Bhoomi portal by jumping from the 26th place to the fifth place in the State. There were 1,008 land disputes pending in the district and now their number has come down to 493 due to speedy disposal of cases,” Mr. Gurukar said, pointing to the exponential growth that the district has registered in the disposal of applications concerning public grievances.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Bhimashankar Teggelli was present.
