Dr Bhattarai inaugurated the control room by taking a call from an ordinary citizen amid a small function held Thursday evening. OPMCM Secretary Leela Mani Paudel briefed PM Bhattarai about the overall structure, objectives, jurisdiction and working modality of Hello Sarkar.[break]
Officials deputed at the control room received nearly 300 phone calls on Thursday alone. The facility has been in operation since the past few days on trail basis. "Apart from phone calls, we received more than 70 complaints from people across the country on Thursday alone, ranging from those involving corruption and social and family injustices to job opportunities," Joint Secretary Shankar Adhikary told Republica.
During the inauguration, the PM picked up the phone and the caller asked, "Hello, why are you passive in re-opening the road section---from Maitighar to Bhadrakali---used by the Nepal Army?"
"I am thinking about the options for re-opening that road section," PM Bhattarai answered. The PM had recently instructed government authorities to re-open the road section, stating that it would ease traffic problems facing the Maitighar area.
According to OPMCM officials, the control room will be open round the clock. "This is an initiative of a responsive government," said Secretary Paudel, who had conceptualized the control room.
PM inaugurates 1111 for phone, SMS, email (1111@opmcm.gov.np)
Hello Sarkar is expected to deal in a timely and effective manner with complaints, obstacles and concerns felt and floated by members of the public.
The control room will take up and try to settle problems of a public nature ranging from malpractices, delay in service delivery, any kind of crime, and social incidents.
"It will remain open round the clock, take up matters of public concern and initiate steps to address and resolve as soon as possible any hurdles facing the people," said Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire.
Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai had instructed officials to set up a control room at his office after he found the OPMCM gates closed for a few mornings when he had reached there early.
The control room will be receiving daily progress reports from all the ministries, compiling them and furnishing a compiled report to Prime Minister Bhattarai.
In consultation with the authorities and stakeholder concerned, the control room will try to address problems facing the public.
The phone, email and SMS number for Hello Sarkar is the same --1111.The public can phone 1111, SMS at 1111 and email at 1111@opmcm.gov.np if they have any complaints to lodge at the control room. They can also fax at 1100. Except for the fax, the public won´t have to pay to use the phone, SMS or email.
The public can lodge complaints at the control room about their problems, sudden accidents and incidents, any crime, crucial information regarding crime, malpractices, other unlawful activities and any other matter of genuine concern.
Officials deployed at the control room remained busy throughout the day Thursday as there were non-stop complaints coming in via all four means.
There will be three shifts--morning, day and night--for government employees working at the control room. Those working a shift have to work about eight hours.
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