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.
