Hyderabad: 'Prajavani' cancelled due to Covid-19, grievances pile up in GHMC

Hyderabad: Since March 2020 'Prajavani', a grievance cell meeting with public and civic authorities, was halted. It was being organised in all the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) zonal offices, including the head office, here, to hear public issues. But it is now proving troublesome for the public, as their grievances are not being addressed.

According to GHMC sources, it has been more than a year that 'Prajavani' has not been conducted at GHMC offices. It has become a major concern for people who are willing to take their grievances to the notice of authorities.

Noor Khan, a resident and a welfare member of Seri Lingampally said, "At all the five GHMC zonal offices, no 'Prajavani' programme is being conducted. When we visited the GHMC office to register a grievance we were told to make an online complaint. It has been more than a month that a complaint has been lodged, yet no action has been initiated by the authorities, or no step taken up to resolve the civic issue."

Adding to their problems, no official at the GHMC office is accepting any representation letter or written complaints from the welfare associations or any individuals, alleged a group of residents who visited the office recently to submit a letter appealing to officials to resolve their issue. Sources claimed that the grievances have been piling up at the online platforms of the GHMC. The complaints related to potholes, poor road maintenance, sanitation, and increasing mosquitoes menace. People alleged that no official has taken any step to address their problems.

In 2020 the State authorities announced a temporary halt to 'Prajavani'. It seems that the temporary cancellation has been made permanent. People, who had filed complaints over an online platform, said their issues have been pending for many days. "I have filed a complaint related to a land issue on 'My GHMC App' but didn't receive any response from the authorities. Today I came from Old City to submit a petition directly to the GHMC official, but even after waiting till evening I wasn't able to meet him," lamented Sudhir Kumar of Chaderghat. He urged officials to re-start the 'Prajavani' meetings, adding that the department can only invite people who are vaccinated to hear their problems.

According to officials, as part of measures to curb the spread of Corona virus, the higher-ups have cancelled 'Prajavani', which was started to address public grievances every Monday by visiting offices by meeting the concerned officials.

However, in districts civic authorities took initiative to conduct online Prajavani and addressed issues. Whereas the district administrations across the State had cancelled grievance cell meetings to contain Covid, though all the departments are well-equipped to conduct an online video conference or a virtual meeting with the public. Till now no such step has been taken in the city.