Janata Samvad: For those whose voices are yet to be heard in the national Capital

Her face, neck, back and upper body parts were badly burnt. She was covering her marks but revealed it in front of officers posted at the Janata Samvad hoping that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would surely do something for her plastic surgery. “My husband burnt me thrice for frivolous reasons. He often asks me to leave home and go somewhere else but I have nowhere to go as my parents have already died,” said Kanta (21). She hails from Rajasthan but came to Delhi after marriage and is presently residing in Mangolpuri. 

She is not educated enough to write her application and so a volunteer of Aam Aadmi Party is writing it on her behalf. She is not an isolated case but citizens from different parts of the city gather at Kejriwal’s official residence at Bungalow number 6, Flag Staff Road, Civil Lines to raise their grievances directly in front of the Chief Minister.  Here they are welcomed with a time-bound systematic procedure — Public Grievance Monitoring System (PGMS). It’s like a mini-secretariat where officers in almost all the public centric departments of the Delhi government including MCDs, Delhi Police, BSES, TATA Power, NDMC, DDA, Delhi Jal Board, district administration, slums and the like sit in a row to receive applications and sort them out at their levels. According to the data, the direct monitoring has so far solved 90.32 percent of 42,552 grievances received against various departments of the Delhi government and 84.46 percent of complaints against the MCDs.

Rekha (28) has gone to visit her in-laws in her village when the slum department conducted a survey as her name was not included in the list of beneficiaries of EWS flats. “I am living here since 1988 but they razed the slum in Jwalapuri. I have nowhere to go,” she said. She is confident that like others if her name is sent from the CM’s office, she would get a flat.  

But Ram Murti (60) has some bitter experiences to reckon. “I came here several times since August 28, 2015, as my Ration Card has been cancelled. I had a ration card for the past 30 years,” said Murti showing his Aadhar Card. The volunteers said that if the case was not resolved after repeated attempts, they would arrange a meeting of the complainant with the Chief Minister.