By this time next week, your smartphone will be able to help you obtain a birth certificate, pay civic taxes and get your surroundings cleaned.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to launch a mobile application, which can be easily downloaded on smartphones and promises to help them access civic services quick and without hassle.
BMC public relations officer Srimant Mishra said the corporation’s IT-PMU (Information technology-project management unit) would handle this application.
Though the BMC officials did not say what the name of the application would be, they hinted it would have the BMC logo and that it would be launched within a week.
Through this application, people will be able to lodge their complaints by posting photos and the corporation will try to fix the problems within a fixed time period.
Additional commissioner of BMC Brundha D. said a three-level grievance redress system would be put in place once the application was launched.
“Once the complaints are lodged, they will be sent to the departments concerned and the officials will try to solve the problem within a specified time. If the matter is not solved within that time period, the complaints will be brought to the notice of the department head. If the issue is not solved in the first two levels, it will then be referred to two additional commissioners,” said Mishra.
Officials said each service would have a specified time period. For example, removal of animal carcass would be done within one day while garbage cleaning within two days at the most. The time would be fixed according to the nature of the services and the maximum time period would be 15 days.
In the first phase, the BMC will focus on garbage cleaning and street lights.
“This will be like any other application and anyone can download this on their mobile phone. Then they can comment, suggest or post photos,” said an official.
There are several municipal corporations across the country, including Mumbai and Surat, which use mobile applications for grievance redress and other facilities. Bhubaneswar is going to be a part of this club.