Ground Report: Prajavani delays force citizens to make repeated trips to Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A wrong entry of a ration card number has resulted in Inayat Ali, a heavy vehicle driver from Malakpet, making multiple visits to the Praja Bhavan after the clerical mistake deprived him of the benefits of the welfare schemes promised by the Congress government.

People have also been visiting the Praja Bhavan here in large numbers to attend the Prajavani programme to register their grievances and lodge and monitor their complaints to ensure timely resolution.

When NewsMeter visited the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Praja Bhavan, we found many like Inayat Ali, who have come from various parts of the State to get their ration cards, health cards and pattadar passbooks issued. Many were also there to get sanctions and allocation of double bedrooms, employment in various departments and other issues.

‘Visited four times but no solution yet’

However, many have complained that the paperwork related to the welfare schemes and grievances could have been completed at the local level, instead of making trips to Hyderabad and raising the issues at Prajavani.

Sharing his plight with NewsMeter, Inayat Ali said, “My wife has applied for a double bedroom house, a free gas cylinder, 200 units of free electricity and the monthly Rs 2,500 assistance promised for women under the Mahalakshmi scheme. We have submitted all the relevant documents online to benefit from the welfare schemes of the government. However, the officials didn’t enter the ration card details correctly. We immediately raised the issue before the mandal office, where the officials delayed it for a fortnight and suggested my wife file a grievance at Prajavani for a quick redressal. However, my wife visited the Praja Bhavan four times so far but our grievances have not been rectified.”

Inayat Ali said that almost 45 days ago, he underwent surgery on his abdomen and was not in a position to attend his duties. “With no option left, I came to Praja Bhavan to take my issue to the notice of the officials and appealed to them to enter my ration card number. However, the officials suggested applying for a new ration card,” he said and added that a gas agency had also demanded Rs 3,000 for changing the ownership rights on his wife’s name from one of his relatives.

Delay in processing applications for welfare schemes

Referring to the allotment of double-bedroom houses, Inayat Ali said that the officials at Prajavani are only accepting applications while stating that applications would be checked at the mandal-level offices.

“If such is the case, why did the Congress government make tall claims of implementing the six guarantees for the public through Praja Palana without streamlining the process,” Ali said.

What is the process for filing complaints at Prajavani?

Applications for the ‘Six Guarantees’, which the Congress government has recently announced, were also filed at Prajavani by citizens who had not yet applied. Prior to creating a reference ID number, every application submitted to Prajavani will be scanned. The specific ID number will be forwarded to the relevant department and provided via SMS to the applicant’s phone, the officials said.

According to the officials, as Prajavani reached its 50-week mark, they announced that out of the 5,23,940 applications they received, 4,31,348 have been processed, with the remaining 92,592 applications still pending at various phases. The applications for jobs, Indiramma residences, and white ration cards that Prajavani received were just pending because of some formal procedure.

Manual scavengers seek reappointment in govt schools

Prajavani also processes employment-related grievances of government staffers.

In another case, Purushottam from Talamadugu in Adilabad district submitted a memorandum to the officials at the Praja Bhavan for his reappointment as a manual scavenger (sewage worker) in government schools.

“Between 2016 and 2021, around 28,200 people were appointed as scavengers by the previous BRS government in government schools. The government paid Rs 2,500 per month as against Rs 3,500 mentioned in the order. After Covid-19, the BRS government handed over the complete responsibilities to the gram panchayats leaving us jobless. Recently, the Congress government gave the order to hand over the responsibilities to the SHG groups, besides preferring the scavengers appointed during the previous government,” he said.

Asked about the response from the officials, Purushottam said that the officials had registered his complaint and asked him to meet principal secretary (MA&UD) Dana Kishore to submit the memorandum to him.

Farmers seek implementation of loan waiver

Sanjeev, a farmer from Mahabubnagar, visited Praja Bhavan twice after waiting for the recent loan waiver scheme to get implemented. However, his plea to include his mother’s name in the loan waiver was yet to be considered by the officials.

Sanjeev’s mother owns three acres of agricultural land in Koilkonda mandal. The previous BRS government did not keep any guidelines for the implementation of the loan waiver scheme. Before the elections, a waiver of a Rs 1 lakh loan was done by the BRS government. After the Congress government came to power it had kept a cut-off date for the implementation of the loan waiver scheme. But during the elections, CM Revanth Reddy didn’t mention any cutoff date.

What is Prajavani?

Continuing the legacy of former chief minister of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the Congress government led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy has began conducting the Prajavani twice a week on Tuesday and Friday after the forming the government in December 2023 with an objective to address the problems raised by the people. However, it lost its sheen due to delay in the resolving the grievances of the people on time.