It is not a fictional account from Chandrakanta or Jataka Katha but a complaint letter sent by a Rajasthan native to the Central Government for redressal. Several Union ministries, including the highest office of the Prime Minister, are flooded with grievances having extra-territorial implications, an official jokingly said.
He further confirmed that more than 40,000 grievances are received per month on Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) which also comprise large numbers of bizarre complaints. “These grievances are impossible to redress in a lifetime, forget about 60 days deadline given to bureaucrats as per the guidelines mentioned in the citizen charter,” the official added.
In this particular letter, the complainant accused state authorities of ignoring his plight and has alleged that “a few officers, who came for ‘ground inspection’ after several requests, later sided with the ghosts and their handlers, causing more harm.”
Another grievance was addressed to the President’s Office in which a Delhi-based complainant had claimed that the movie PK starring Aamir Khan and several other Bollywood blockbusters were originally born in his mind before the producers stole it. Even Anil Kapoor’s style that became a craze after the film Tezaab was originally his style.
An IAS aspirant from Madhya Pradesh had accused neighbours of disrupting his memory by using some kind of ‘tantric technique’. He alleged that was hampering his preparation to crack the one of the most difficult exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
Officials are also clueless as to what action should be recommended on the file. Sources said about two lakh grievances were pending with the various ministries and of these, about one lakh have been pending for over a year.
Since bureaucrats are bound by Citizen Charter rules of providing quality public service, they can never throw the letters straightaway into dustbins, but need to run through the ministries concerned as per procedure. It is learnt that many such complaints are transferred from one ministry to another after verifying the subject matters.
For example, the grievance of the ‘filmi’ complainant was forwarded to Information and Broadcasting Ministry since it is responsible for handling film and TV-related matters. Similarly, Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry officials are in deliberation to find ways to eliminate ‘Bird Flying Praiyati’.
Apart from ghosts and extra-territorial threats, the government is also battling with complaints received from Chief Ministers and MPs for the redressal by Central ministries and departments concerned. It is learnt that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is not satisfied with the ministries’ response and on February 11 had summoned Nodal Officers of all the major ministries to attend a meeting in the PMO on the issue.
Sources said the government has developed an IT module, VIP Letter Monitoring System (VLMS), to promptly acknowledge and reply. It has also asked all the ministries to appoint a Joint Secretary-level officer for coordination.
“It is seen that the progress of a few ministries in uploading replies/comments on VLMS module is not satisfactory,” a PMO officer had written to all the ministries drawing their attention to a directive issued by Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to PM Narendra Modi.
Misra in his letter has asked all the secretaries that “follow-up on the issues raised by Chief Ministers is one of the most important priorities for PM Modi and their concerns should be attended to with seriousness and due diligence.”
According to a source, the government had decided to push paperless communication while dealing with VIP issues and VLMS is now working as interface between PMO and ministries to facilitate online updating of status on the issues raised by Chief Ministers.
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