LUDHIANA: People around the city now find it easy to reach the Municipal Corporation, but still want the body to gear up and deliver more rapidly. After getting their problems solved within three days, many people complained about recurrence of those problems.

Although the new app launched by the MC did resolve the problems of many complainants in the city, there were some who wanted the MC to speed up its work. People often complain about many problems recurring due to the lax attitude of the MC. "Implementation of this app was a good initiative, but they should be active and concerned about it as well. Problems are recurring again and again, which irk the common people. In the end, they will consider it a useless app if their problems are not resolved immediately and satisfactorily," said Sukhdev Chadda of Gurdev Nagar. The same problem was faced by Gurmeet Singh Sethi of GT Road. He said: "I complained about three problems in my area. It was about parks and dilapidated roads. MC repaired the roads in three days, but after a month, it's back to the earlier condition. And about parks, nothing was done."

People suggested that the MC take up more initiatives like Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Citizens' Reporting and Mapping Tool (LMC CRAMAT), so that citizens do not have to run around offices for getting their work done. Dr Suman Bali of Sector 39 complained about water sanitation, which was rapidly acted upon by the MC and solved within 3-4 days. "It's a good initiative taken up by the corporation. It's easier to reach them directly and get the problem solved with the help of initiatives like this, as it's not possible for everyone to run around different offices in the city."

The organization launched its first mobile app LMC CRAMAT on March 5 to register the complaints of citizens, which could be made easily accessible to anyone throughout the city. In a period of one month, the corporation has received 162 complaints to date, out of which 88 have been resolved, while 64 are still pending. LMC CRAMAT can register complaints in 10 categories from residents, namely street lights, water supply or sewage, roads, sanitation, tehbazaari, encroachments, horticulture, unauthorized construction, city bus service, and illegal advertisements/hoardings.

Reacting to the problems and the success or usefulness of the app, Isha Kalia, additional commissioner Zone D said: "We are working on many other advanced projects like this and will try to work more rapidly. I hope we will be able to make the process of complaints and documentation easier for people around the city."

"I am happy with the MC initiative. My complaint was about a streetlight, which was sorted out in 2-3 days. The problem recurred again, but after a week, they fixed it properly," said Sukhjinder Singh of Hargobind Nagar.

"I complained about three issues, out of which one was solved immediately, but nothing has been done about the other two complaints. The problem of illegal parking was solved, but then, it's happening again after two weeks, whereas the problems of parks and roads are still the same," said Jatinder Singh.

"This is really a good option for people who live in far-flung areas and can't reach MC offices every time to file their complaints and get them solved. I filed two complaints about sewage and garbage lying outside my residence. The garbage problem was solved the next day, but the sewage problem still persists," said Joginder Singh.