Srinagar, Sep 11 (IANS): In a significant step towards making the existing grievance redress mechanism more robust and efficient, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday launched the Jammu and Kashmir Integrated Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System or JK-IGRAMS.
Speaking at a press conference here, he said that public grievance redressal was the top-most priority of the UT administration.
The new system will be implemented on a pilot basis initially in the districts of Jammu, Srinagar and Reasi and gradually rolled out in the remaining districts by or before October 2, 2020. It will replace the current portal launched in 2018.
The revamped system will decentralise the handling and redressal of public grievances by making District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners as the primary level of receiving, disposing and monitoring grievances.
As such, the existing portal has now been integrated downwards to the district level by mapping another nearly 1,500 public offices in 20 districts of the Union Territory.
From the existing 250 to 1,500 offices, the widest possible coverage has been conceived and enabled in the online management of public grievances in J&K. This makes it the first online grievance management system/portal in the country linked with the central government and the districts and even further down to the tehsil and block levels.
Besides, the administrative secretaries of various departments figuring in the middle of the flow-chain are also linked to the mechanism.
The new system would be available round the clock with applicant OTP authentication, acknowledgement to applicant at each stage and feedback by complainants. It also provides for grievance submission by making a phone call between 9.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on all weekdays, except Sundays.
The Lt Governor said that the administration is committed to undertake radical reforms to put in place a people-centric good governance structure with an institutionalised grievance redressal mechanism.
"Every month, we will call two persons from each district to find out whether their grievances have been redressed or not," he said.