Praja Vani turning out to be a futile exercise, says Harish Rao

Cites RTI data to expose glaring inefficiencies, lack of sincerity of the initiative by Congress government

Hyderabad: After much hype, the Congress government appears to have reduced its Praja Vani initiative to a futile exercise that has failed to deliver on its promises to the public. The glaring inefficiencies and lack of sincerity in the programme, which was meant to address citizens’ grievances, have been exposed by former Minister T Harish Rao, using the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Sharing the data obtained under RTI Act on social media, Harish Rao said Praja Vani, initially promised as a daily public hearing by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Ministers, has been reduced to a twice-weekly event with minimal participation. “The Chief Minister attended the programme only once and spent a mere 10 minutes addressing requests. The Ministers also abandoned the programme after initial participation, and failed to be available for public grievances,” he said.

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The RTI data revealed that between its launch and December 9, 2024, Praja Vani received 82,955 petitions. Of these, only 43,272 were categorised as grievances. The remaining were summarily rejected, with authorities citing land disputes, unemployment issues, and election promises as outside the scope of grievances for redressal by them.

Even among the grievances processed, only 27,215 were reportedly resolved. However, Harish Rao complained that many of these were closed without actual resolution. “People are left disheartened, with files marked as resolved while their issues remain unaddressed. Citizens who travel to Hyderabad with the hope of justice find their efforts wasted,” he added.