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E-governance and Accountability on www.praja.org A joint initiative of Praja Foundation and the BMC'''''Italic text'' The Online Complaint Monitoring System (OCMS) is designed to enable citizens of Mumbai register complaints and receive information on the complaint status quickly and easily, without the need to visit or call the Brihan-Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ward offices at restricted timings. All you need to do is to go to www.praja.org and fill in a simple form with the complaint details. On submission, you will be given a unique complaint tracking number, which helps you check the status of your complaint on the internet – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anonymous complaints are accepted. What if you don’t have connectivity to the internet? Not to worry, the OCMS is a cohesive system. Complaints filed from any source – the net, phone calls and letters to the BMC – will be entered into the OCMS database. The BMC has a 24/7 complaint hotline telephone “1916.” And, regardless from where the complaint is fed into the system, you will get a similar complaint tracking number. Each complaint is sent to the relevant ward office for redressal and the action taken by the ward officials is posted on the system. Redressals are due within a time period stipulated in the BMC-Praja Citizen’s Charter (www.praja.org/chartermain). If it is not addressed within the set time limit, OCMS automatically escalates the complaint to a higher officer. If not handled there too, it escalates again, right uptil the Municipal Commissioner. For example, at the ward level the complaint is not redressed within the period specified in the charter, the complaint will automatically be sent by the system to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner. If not solved at that level, it will once again, automatically go up to the Additional Municipal Commissioner and onward to the Municipal Commissioner. OCMS also provides a number of reports for wards, departments and the corporation as a whole that will enable senior BMC officials to monitor and improve the services and performance of the BMC wards and departments. Shri Mahadeo Deole, Mayor of Mumbai, launched the OCMS on April 3, 2003 in the BMC’s Corporation Hall. Since April 2003, more than 1,20,000 complaints have been lodged on OCMS. This complaint audit survey used the OCMS database to contact complainants. Salient Features 1. First of its kind anywhere in the world. 2. All the complaints—from whichever source—will be put in one cohesive system, making it easier to respond, maintain, and evaluate. 3. Each complaint will have a unique tracking number. The complainant can at any time of day or night check the status of the complaint online. 4. If the complaint is not heeded, it will be escalated to the higher officer automatically—up to the Municipal Commissioner. There is no human involvement in this process and it removes the scope for delays in dealing with citizens’ complaints. 5. It will revolutionize the use of Information Technology in governance. E-governance is much more that simply computerization of government offices and better communications. This is an interactive system. 6. The OCMS will bring about transparency in governance thus improving governance tremendously. 7. For the first time an NGO is partnering the government in such an initiative. Benefits for Citizens • Single channel OCMS is designed such that whatever the mode of complaint (letters, faxes, emails, personal visits, web, etc) the complaint is channelled into one cohesive system. No complaint is lost or misplaced and those that have reached the wrong office are easily forwarded to the correct place with minimum effort. Every complaint has a unique computer generated Complaint Tracking Number. • Easy to use OCMS is easy to use. Although it is internet-based system, citizens do not need the internet to access OCMS. They can call up, make personal visits, etc, any way they are comfortable in reaching the government agency. It’s as easy as making a phone call. The web-based forms are also simple and do not involve much typing. Drop down menus give most of the information. The BMC’s call centre is open 24/7 and citizens do not have to take time out of busy schedules during the day – they can just as easily make their complaint in the evenings. • Quick feedback As soon as the complaint is fed in, the system will be able to tell by when it should be redressed. The system works on a real time basis. As soon as the complaint is fed in it goes directly to the box of the concerned officer (not at the end of the day or the end of the hour, but immediately). At any time citizens can use their Complaint Tracking Number to get their status either through the internet or through the call centre. If additional information is to be fed in it can be given. • Escalation / viewing by senior officers If the complaint is not redressed within the specified time limit it will be escalated to the senior level automatically. This ensures that junior officers cannot hide their lack of performance. Also citizens are assured that the complaint if not solved does not rot in one place but is escalated towards senior officers for redressal. • Transparency The entire system is open and transparent. No complaint deletions are possible. As far as possible the system works in an automatic mode and most of the information is openly available. Benefits for the Government Agency • Secure Data All the data in OCMS is saved in the Praja server. We have world class security for our server and in the more than 2 years that we’ve had it, it has never been hacked and our data is safe. We also have daily backups of all data • Easy to use OCMS is easy to use for the government officers as well. Information from citizens is collected in the format prescribed by the relevant government department. Easy search and filtering technology allows one to access the relevant information quickly. • Saves time, effort, paper As with any technology solution, a lot of paper is saved. Also as the routing and processes are laid down in the beginning, there is a huge saving of effort, ensuring that complaint handling takes much less time than with manual systems. • Detailed MIS reporting OCMS has detailed Management Information system (MIS) reporting built into it. Reports are available for each ward and each department as well as aggregates for higher levels. Current reports include those on redressal status, mode of complaint, escalation, etc. All reports can be customised by date and other variables. OCMS also has a “drill-down” feature for the Municipal Commissioner level where senior most officers can drill down from the most general reports to each individual complaint. • Builds citizen confidence through transparency Once citizens are comfortable about a system that fairly redresses their complaints, they also develop a faith in that system. • Predictive Value Trends from OCMS can be used to detect long term patterns and predict which areas need attention. For example chronic complaints about drainage might indicate that new pipes need to be laid. The focussed and systematic gathering of data as well as intelligent analysis would enable the government agency to respond quicker and ensure that essential works are carried out much before they become an urgent calamity. |
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