The helpline received 875 complaints from Kathmandu, 531 from Chitwan, 506 from Dolpa, 494 from Siraha, 473 from Kaski, 471 from Jhapa and 470 from Kapilbastu district so far. Lowest number of complaints, 181, was lodged from Magyadi. Morang contacted the helpline 904 times.
Speaking at a press meet, Krishna Hari Banskota, secretary at the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Friday claimed that the helpline successfully addressed 94 percent of the complaints. Out of the total 23,983 complaints received until last month, 22, 446 were resolved, according to Banskota. [break]
“The secret behind the success is the mechanism of addressing the problem. There are nodal officers at the central level who follow the complaints and act responsibly to solve the problem. That is why we were able to solve 94 percent of the cases,” Banskota said.
Started by the government led by former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattari in November 3, 2011, the helpline had received flood of complaints in the first few weeks. Direct involvement of Bhattarai in the process initially quite elated the people, who would expect quick and effective solution of their concerns.
The sluggish response in the later days made the initiative a mere butt of several jokes. Responding to a public query over phone, Bhattarai took no time in promising to reopen the Bhadrakali-Maitighar road section for public, which was straightaway turned down by the Army.
According to Banskota, out of 17,734 complaints received in the first year of the beginning of the service, 1,206 complaints remain to be solved. Various ministries and bodies, including Women, Children and Social Welfare, Local development Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tribhuvan University, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority and Nepal Telecom are yet to solve some cases related to them.
“In the second year of the service, we could better manage everything and so it has become more effective. On average, 1100 complaints are received per month,” Banskota said.
He further informed that maximum complaints were related to Home Ministry, followed by Education, Local Development, Physical Planning and Development, Finance and Labor and Employment Ministry. Similarly, zone wise, Bagmati, Koshi and Narayani zones lodged maximum complaints, respectively.
Complaints about violence against women and children, adulteration in petroleum products, irregularities in government offices, poor service in public hospitals, issues of Dalit, among others, are received more frequently by Hello Sarkar.
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