Pension has not been paid or started, Provident Fund claim not settled, delayed Speed Post letters, poor mobile phone network, issues with CGHS cards, flooding on roads, problems at toll plazas and NEET PG exam woes – these are some of the major complaints, which the Centre receives from the public.
The Centre receives over 30 lakh public grievances each year. This year so far, the maximum grievances have been received by the Department of Financial Services (Banking Division), Labour Ministry, CBDT, Railways Ministry and Ministry of Cooperation.
A government analysis shows the maximum pendency of public complaints is at the Health Ministry, Department of Revenue, Department of Social Justice and Department of Defence. In fact, the Health Ministry and Ministry of Cooperation rank the lowest in an ‘Interim Grievance Redressal Index’ framed by the government to assess timely and quality disposal of complaints. This year, the health ministry has taken an average of 110 days to dispose of a complaint, against a mandatory limit of 45 days.
Analysing Most Common Complaints
A root cause analysis done by the government of the nature of most frequent complaints made by people has thrown up some interesting facts. Like the maximum complaints in the Department of Financial Services is regarding the non-payment or non-commencement of pensions, non-receipt or delays in receipt of government subsidies and non-opening or delays in opening of a bank account. There are also a number of complaints regarding false deduction of money and the errors with online transactions.
People also complain of issues related to “excessive cold calling or threats over phone” on matters of loan and mortgage. In the labour ministry, the maximum complaints are regarding non-settlement of Provident Fund claims and companies not paying PF when employees exit. People also claim in big numbers about speed post letters being delayed or not delivered, misbehaviour by the post office staff and the disabled not getting doorstep banking.
The Telecom Department also gets a host of complaints from people about mobile related services like improper network coverage, call drops and poor call quality, mobile portability issues and broadband speeds being lower than committed and billing issues. People also complain about private companies installing towers at wrong places and health hazards posed by it.
At the health ministry, maximum complaints from people are about CGHS cards, delays in medical reimbursements and about hospital services. There have also been a host of complaints this year about the toughness of the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, the inappropriate scheduling of NEET exams and the gap between counselling and conduction of NEET PG. Complaints have also poured in regarding having no policy about supporting students pursuing medical courses from China and Ukraine who had to return to India due to the situations there.
Some have also complained about their non-inclusion in the Ayushman Bharat scheme despite being eligible and some have also lodged grievances regarding incorrect details in Covid vaccination certificates as well as complaints against harmful materials and unhealthy practices followed in food industries.
Regarding the Roads and Highways Ministry, people have been complaining about poor or no construction of roads leading to traffic or flooding, incorrect amount being charged at toll plazas via FastTag and claims for compensation against land acquisition.
Other Concerns
The government’s analysis also shows that the maximum pendency of grievances, at nearly 20,000, are at the newly-formed Ministry of Cooperation followed by the Health Ministry (13,311) as on June 26. Over 16,000 of the said grievances at the Ministry of Cooperation are pending for more than 45 days, the mandated limit. The highest average time to close a complaint this year stands at 228 days in the Department of Legal Affairs, 183 days at the Ministry of Cooperation, 104 days at the Department of Legal Affairs and 100+ days at Ministry of Health, the analysis shows.
In comparison, the Food and Public Distribution Ministry closes a complaint with 10 days on an average while the Telecom Department takes just 12 days, the analysis shows. The central government had last year across ministries reduced the maximum time that can be taken to dispose a complaint from 60 days to 45.
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