Public grievances soar to 8,300 amid coronavirus lockdown

NEW DELHI: Public grievances have risen during the ongoing lockdown brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, with a dedicated platform set up on March 30 getting an increasing number of complaints.

The banking division of the Department of Financial Services and the foreign ministry received the maximum number of complaints related to the outbreak and the consequent lockdown over the last one week, surpassing that of the Union health ministry, government data showed.

Over 8,300 complaints were received on the platform ever since an empowered group of officers was set up under HRD Secretary Amit Khare to focus on the issue.


Of these, 760 grievances pertained to banking services, while 753 were directed at the Ministry of External affairs, the government data, which ET has reviewed, showed.

Although the government has not disclosed the nature of the complaints, sources said many related to inadequate availability of banking services and on the rescue of Indians stranded abroad due to cancellation of flights or visa issues.

The foreign ministry, it was revealed, disposed of 173 complaints, while the banking division of the finance ministry disposed of nearly half the complaints it received, with officials saying the department ensured that banks and ATMs remained open during the period.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) received 747 complaints from the public, although they do not pertain to the PMO itself since the department offers no citizen services. All these complaints were forwarded to the relevant ministries, officials said.

The health ministry received 428 complaints, while the Ministry of Home Affairs got 366, the data showed. The labour and employment ministry received 181, amid reports of job-losses from across the country.

Among states, grievances with respect to Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 400 and 388 complaints, respectively, while Karnataka received 301 complaints.

“We are impressing upon the states to quickly attend to the complaints received on the platform,” an official said. Maharashtra had resolved only two of 400 complaints so far, while UP has resolved three out of 388.

The central ministries disposed of 36% of the 5,144 complaints received by them, while the various states only disposed 100 out of the 3,186 complaints, the data showed.