Govt to expand Hello Sarkar portal at local levels

Kathmandu, August 18

The government is set to expand Hello Sarkar portal, its grievance-hearing mechanism, to all 753 local levels. The hotline service was set up in November 2011 to provide general public with easy access to concerned authorities for filing their complaints and grievances. The government had launched Facebook and Twitter pages of Hello Sarkar in 2014. Public can also post their grievances and suggestions on social media pages of Hello Sarkar.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has issued a circular to all local levels, requesting them to provide it with necessary details to introducefor the purpose of introducing Hello Sarkar portal. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has deputed 16 employees to run Hello Sarkar at the federal level. They receive public complaints through various channels and forward it to the concerned authorities.

In event of delay or failure by an office to address the complaints under its jurisdiction, the OPMCM writes to the ministry concerned to initiate action against the in-charge of the office. According to Information and Technology Section of the MoFAGA, local levels were told to submit details like the number of wards, electrified wards, status of access to internet, computerised ward offices and efforts towards electrification and internet connection if such facilities didn’t exist.

Most complaints pertain to poor condition of roads and bridges, corruption in government offices, misuse of social media, black marketing, irregular drinking water supply, foreign employment fraud, overcharging of transport fare, air pollution and shortage of school textbooks. Offices under Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education, MoFAGA, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Ministry of Fi-nance draw more criticism from the public.