SUMMARY
Rajasthan Sampark Is Giving The State Citizens The Confidence Of - ‘Reaching The Right Department, On time And Getting Heard.’
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“Now Rajasthan is no more limited to historical tales, but stands synonymous with the IT industry and technology which is sure to bring in golden future for the state.”
The Hon’ble chief minister (CM) of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje’s above statement reflects the progress the state has made in the past few years. The initiatives by the CM have not been limited to governance alone, but have made technology, which is the need for everyone today, reach the common man of Rajasthan. One such platform is Rajasthan Sampark or CM Helpline.
A glimpse of this was observed by Inc42 during the Digital Rajasthan Yatra in March 2018 by Inc42
Mohammed Kasim, an ordinary resident from a small village near Ajmer, expressed how he was facing electricity supply issues at his residence. It was faulty and irregular. He registered an online complaint via the Sampark Portal. And, he was surprised by the immediate response from the government officials. They visited his place within three to five working days and replaced the old transformers with new ones. This issue getting resolved not only benefited Kasim but the village on the whole.
Today, officials from Rajasthan Sampark are resolving a majority of complaints within twenty-four hours and have so far resolved more than 2.3 Mn complaints.
In the last four years, the ‘Rajasthan Sampark’ initiative has led the state government to improve the accountability of the system, as well as minimise the possibilities of corruption in redressing complaints and issues. At the same time, it has enabled the citizens of the state to take their issues directly to the state government most importantly in a convenient manner.
Being an innovative e-governance project developed by the Rajasthan government’s Department of Information Technology and Communication (DoIT&C), Rajasthan Sampark now aims to empower the residents of the state by providing transparent and accountable means of grievance redressal.
”Rajasthan Sampark is India’s most innovative and robust platform for Grievance Redressal, to empower the residents of the state by providing transparent and accountable means of grievance redressal – well proven with more than 23 Lac Grievances redressed and people being happier,”Akhil Arora, Principal Secretary, IT&C, Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Sampark: Automating Grievance Redressal For The Masses
The Rajasthan Sampark platform covers all government departments, autonomous organisations, and academic institutions. It is a centralised platform that uses:
- A web platform
- A mobile app
- Jan Sampark centres with video conferencing facility, eMitra kiosks
- Toll-Free Call centres (Toll-free:181 within Rajasthan, 1800-180-6127)
These different means of connecting to the platform allow people to use multiple avenues for registering and tracking the status of their complaints. Upon registration, the resident receives a Grievance ID that can be used in the future to track the grievance, re-open it, give feedback, etc.
It further offers an automated workflow to state functionaries for processing the grievance till addressed.
Offering Real-Time Data To Enable An Effective Grievance Redressal Mechanism
The Rajasthan Sampark application includes SMS integration, GIS (Geographic Information System) linked inspections/ or visits, reality check functionality for disposed cases, provision to collect feedback and extensive monitoring of public grievances.
Rajasthan Sampark provides real-time information, thereby enabling effective monitoring of grievances and appropriate decision-making. The objective is to provide a user-friendly, transparent, accountable, effective, efficient and automated grievance lodging and redressal mechanism to residents and government functionaries.
Interestingly, if there is no proper solution in the recorded cases, there is a facility of being heard in-person with the concerned department on Thursdays of every month. Additionally, the platform also helps reduce the manual file processing at every level in the government, thereby making faster inter-department data sharing a reality.
Efforts To Communicate Directly With The Citizens By The Rajasthan Government
Apart from Rajasthan Sampark, eSanchar and iFact are the two services offered by the Rajasthan government for direct communication with residents through SMS, voice message and structure queries.
The eSanchar facility can be linked with any departmental application for sending event-based notifications to applicants or beneficiaries as well as officials. On the other hand, iFact can be used by any department through Rajasthan Sampark as well as a departmental application for real-time access to information.
Also, the CM launched an app — Vasundhara Raje mobile app – in 2016, to bring governance closer to the people and enable them to reach out to their state CM anytime, anywhere. Interestingly, the app provides a platform to the state’s citizens to give their feedback to the CM directly and receive inputs from the CM via the app.
No doubt, CM Raje, and her team along with the DoIT&C are spearheading their way into the ever-growing digital world, taking along the men and women of their state from the furthest corners. These initiatives are also helping the state to emerge as a preferred destination for businesses to launch their services owing to the increased technology adoption at the end of the users.
Like all other grievance redressal systems, Sampark may also have its own set of delays, however, it is still giving the citizens of the state, the confidence of – ‘Reaching the right department, on time and Getting heard.’
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