Ministries told to redress grievances of citizens within 2 months

OFFICIALS will no longer be able to sit over files comprising complaints and grievances of aam aadmi after the government issued directions to all ministries and departments to redress grievances of the citizens within a period of two months. Also, with the introduction of a Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), citizens will be able to view the status of his complaint on the web, minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, Prithviraj Chavan said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. During the last three and half years (up to June 30, 2009), the total number of cases of public grievance received in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was 109620. For cabinet secretariat, the number for the same period was 101995, the minister informed the Parliament. Steps to weed out corruption in corridors The government has taken up a few steps to implement its policy of “Zero Tolerance against Corruption”. These include: 1) Issue of Whistle Blowers Resolution, 2004 2) Enactment of Right to Information Act, 2005 3) The pro-active involvement of ministry/department through Annual Action Plan on Vigilance as a preventive measures 4) Issues of comprehensive instructions on transparency in tendering & contracting process by the CVC 5) Introduction of e-Governance and simplification of procedures and systems 6) Issue of Citizen Charters.