The Indian Express            24.10.2013

PCMC’s Sarathi helpline gets 10,000 calls in 67 days

The Sarathi helpline of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has drawn good response from citizens with the helpline receiving as many as 10,000 calls in 67 days since it was launched in August.

Sarathi, a brainchild of Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi, was launched to help citizens collect information on various civic departments, rules and regulations, and register civic complaints.

"In 67 days, over 10,000 calls have been received at the call centre and more than 27,000 hits registered by the helpline's website. This calculates down to an average 150 calls and about 400 web hits per day," said the civic chief, who is personally monitoring the functioning of the helpline.

While the initiative has drawn praise from citizens, it has not managed to convince corporators.

At the standing committee meeting of the PCMC recently, corporators lamented that when they take up problems of citizens with the civic administration, there is little response. But when citizens register their complaints on the helpline, they are addressed at the earliest.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had recently written to the municipal commissioner praising the functioning of the civic body.

In the letter, he said he appreciates the initiatives like e-governance and Sarathi which are aimed at helping citizens. Pardeshi said Sarathi is aimed at making civic functioning citizen-friendly.