More than half of the complainants are women, says Sawang

The Andhra Pradesh police have been successful in resolving the grievances of the public through a series of Spandana programmes across the State every week, Director General of Police Gautam Sawang has said.

Addressing a workshop on ‘Sensitisation for Quality Redressal of Spandana Grievances’ held here on Saturday for the staff concerned in Prakasam and SPSR Nellore district, he said weaker sections, including women, had made effective use of the outreach programme to find a solution to their problems, including money-related ones and gender crime.

Over 52% of the complainants were women, who had earlier hesitated to visit police stations for various reasons, he noted and wanted the police personnel at the grassroots level to lend a listening ear to their woes.

Onus on staff

Government’s Special Advisor Ajeya Kallam put the onus on the staff to reach the benefits of welfare schemes to the targeted beneficiary groups. He noted that 90% of the grievances arose because of the failure of the staff concerned to address the problems then and there and hence the government’s decision to go for decentralised administration to resolve the grievances through the Village Secretariat system. Municipal Administration and Planning Secretary G.S.R.K.R. Vijaykumar wanted the staff concerned to make a thorough probe at the grassroots level into every grievance with a view to ascertaining the genuine nature of the complaints and resolving them.

State Panchayat Raj Commissioner Girija Shankar stressed on inter-department coordination and preparation of a check-list while dealing with each complaint. Revenue officials should hold weekly review of the complaints every Saturday to resolve land and revenue-related issues.

Prakasam Collector P. Bhaskar wanted the staff to apply their ‘head, heart and hand’ for quick resolution of grievances.