How Noida Citizen Charter is a scam!

Noida Authority had launched a mobile redressal cell named Noida Citizen Charter in 2015. Its aim was to leapfrog traditional communication channels to provide quick response to concerns of the citizens.

Has it worked? Nope!

It received good response from the public, and most people took to the online platform to bring to notice pressing issues. But with the passage of a few months, things began to look different. Without initiating any action, the officials started closing the complaints.

Here’s a case in point.

A resident of Sector 15, who did not want to be named, said he took a snap of garbage lying outside his house. He registered an online complaint with the redressal cell and posted the image. He also received a complaint number, A1503593832797N.  

But that’s where the loop closed.

He said, “What surprised me was another text message from the online cell. It said the problem has been solved and the complaint addressed. But as you can see the garbage heap is still lying outside my home, unattended.”

And he’s not the only one.

Residents across sectors in the city have complained that the mechanism of redressing complaints online is non-effective.

According to the authority, it receives over a 100 complaints every day. These are forwarded to relevant departments for redressal.

An officer with the technical audit cell of the authority admitted that this has been happening with most of the complaints.  He said, “The responsibility of solving the problems lie with respective departments. They also have the power of closing the complaints when solved. But they are simply forwarding messages without solving the problems.”

The higher authorities, he added, are aware of the issues, and have also initiated action on the same.

Another officer said CEO Amit Mohan Prasad has already decided to stop the system of incentives for solving the complaints.