36,326 complaints settled in 5 years, claims Hello Sarkar

Kathmandu, October 9

Hello Sarkar, a grievance-hearing mechanism of the government, today said it has settled as many as 36,326 complaints since the hotline was set up in November 2011.

According to the OPMCM, out of 38,613, Hello Sarkar settled 36,326 complaints.

Shanta Raj Subedi,secretary at the OPMCM, informed that the Ministry of Home Affairs topped the grievance redressal chart by settling 6,939 complaints, followed by Ministry of Education (4,542), Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (3,041), Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (2,596), Nepal Electricity Authority (1,893) and Ministry of Finance (1,626) in the last five years.

Hello Sarkar resolved 2,130 cases on its own and forwarded others to the concerned agencies. The OPMCM refers the cases to 33 central level agencies for necessary action.

Secretary Subedi said it settled 451 out of 565 cases in the month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September). The Ministry of Agricultural Development, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of General Administration, Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation and National Vigilance Centre have settled cent per cent cases.

The OPMCM has also made public the name of agencies which settled less than 50 per cent of complaints in Bhadra. They are Ministry of Foreign Affairs (25 per cent), MoPIT (43.9 per cent), Ministry of Urban Development (0 per cent), Ministry of Irrigation (50 per cent), Nepal Telecom (45 per cent), Ministry of Industry (0 per cent), Ministry of Law and Justice (0 per cent), and Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (0 per cent).

Recently, Hello Sarkar has joined Facebook with the aim of receiving public grievances online. It receives complaints through Facebook and hotline (1111). Hello Sarkar settled 109 out of 138 cases it received through Facebook in the past five months.

The OPMCM had instructed concerned government agencies to act on public grievances more seriously and effectively. Most of the complaints lodged with Hello Sarkar are related to embezzlement in relief distribution, load-shedding, irregular drinking water supply, corruption, fraud etc.