The Hindu      08.07.2016   

Mobile app for slum dwellers

Slum dwellers in the Capital will soon be able to register complaints of malfunctioning or dirty toilets with just a tap on their mobile phones. The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is planning to launch a mobile app for swift resolution of issues related to community toilets.

“The demand to have a common grievance redressal mechanism for toilets was repeatedly raised by inhabitants of slums and JJ clusters. So, we have designed an app to ensure time-bound redressal of complaints, which will be open to public within a few months,” informed DUSIB officials.

Simplified process

The app has been colour-coded keeping in mind the literacy level of the slum dwellers. Anyone who wants to suggest anything about a particular community toilet will just have to tap on one of the three colours. “Tapping red will mean a toilet is in pathetic or bad condition and needs immediate action. Yellow means good, whereas, green would indicate that the unit is in excellent condition,” said a senior official.

These coloured ratings will be available for various complaints spread across 8-10 categories, which would include parameters like cleanliness, sewage line (if its overflowing or not), condition of the WCs, water availability and so on.

For complaints that do not fall in any of the categories, a separate box will be provided at the bottom of the page where one can type out the specific problem.

As soon as a complaint is registered, an auto-generated mail will be sent to the executive engineer of the area, who will have to get the problem rectified within 48 hours. The entire system will be monitored by superiors.

In case of inability of taking any action due to some reason, the matter will be referred to the Chief Engineer and then the Chief Executive Officer.

At present, the app is being used for trial by DUSIB for its internal monitoring.