GHMC ward offices become instant hit with general public

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) established ward office system to redress citizens’ grievances

Hyderabad: The ward offices, established by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to make citizens’ grievance redressal system efficient have quickly become popular with the general public. People in large numbers are flocking to the ward offices in the hope that their requests are honored and addressed promptly.

A majority of the visitors to the ward offices are praising the convergence model and practice of clearly displaying the Citizen’s Charter, which has established clear timelines for resolving various issues. A few have also appreciated the the citizen-friendly approach of staff at these offices.

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“In addition to quickly resolving my complaint, the ward office staff at Kukatpally also contacted me over the phone and took feedback,” says Sai Teja, a techie.

Visitors were also quite impressed by the concept of convergence wherein the officers from different municipal departments are available under one roof. To further broaden its range of services, the GHMC is also planning to deploy police personnel at the ward offices. Such a practice has made the ward offices a one-stop destination to resolve all kinds of grievances irrespective of the department concerned.

“During intense spells of rains, these ward offices will be very useful as all the rain-related grievances including power outages, water logging, sewage etc will be resolved through one complaint and people will no longer have to contact various departments,” says Dr Sankeert Gangakhedkar, a doctor from the city.

The GHMC has also decided that if a person approaches the wrong ward office, then the onus of escalating the grievance to the concerned staff lies with the GHMC and not with the complainant.

“We have addressed complaints related to drinking water sanitation and sewage overflow within the stipulated time and as quickly as possible. There was also a complaint regarding a snake being spotted in a park and the issue has been escalated to the Forest Department,” says Sanjay Singh, Ward Administrative Officer (WAO) at Jubilee Hills.

The WAO at Kanchanbagh, Zaheeruddin Siddiqui and Banjara Hills WAO, Sai Srinivas said that they are doing their best to address the grievances as per the deadlines mentioned. “We were able to resolve complaints related to illumination, sanitation and road repair on the same day,” says Sai Srinivas.