Journalism of Courage
DC Mandip Singh Brar Thursday proposed a common integrated helpline for dealing with all kind of complaints related to civic amenities except of criminals and civil disputes in Chandigarh. The proposed helpline will be the part of Chandigarh Smart city project.
A specialised control room for the project was also recommended.
“The need of the common integrated helpline arose after studying the complaints of people, who accuse the Municipal Corporation and the UT administration of passing the buck onto each other for various civic issues. For instance, the water logging problem during the heavy rain. People do not have any idea about who to approach. When they called MC helpline, they are told that the particular location is under the engineering wing of UT administration and vice-versa. Axing of old, dead and overgrown trees in Chandigarh is also among many issues. These two issues are among so many others, which cause inconvenience to the general public,” said a sitting councillor.
The proposed control room will comprise representatives of all civil departments including holtricultre, sanitatiion, electricity etc of the civic body and the administration. The call attendants will transfer the distress call directly to the department concerned.
“The proposal was made keeping in the mind the welfare of local people. It needs a feasible study. This is the part of the Chandigarh Smart City project. If the concept of a common helpline is implemented, most of the confusions, problems of the local residents will be resolved,” said DC Mandip Singh Brar.
There have been various instances when the administration faced the wrath of local people for not addressing their issues on time.
On June 26, a family from Sector 15 blamed the administration for failing to address a complaint of axing an old tree, which fell on the roof damaged the entire house. An aged couple was severely injured in the incident. The family alleged that they were made to go from one office to another to get permission to axe the tree.
Sources said the common number will work on the pattern of 112, a common emergency number for all kind of emergencies connecting with police, health and fire services department. Attendants sitting at the control room automatically forward emergency calls to the department concerned.
