757 plaints resolved under new public hearing drive

Started on the directions of Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, the Chandigarh Administration’s new mechanism of public grievance hearings has emerged as a success, resolving hundreds of long-pending issues of residents in a time-bound and transparent manner.

Governor Kataria had earlier instructed all UT officials — particularly the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) — to fix specific time slots every day for meeting people directly to hear and redress their genuine grievances without unnecessary delay.

Acting on the order, the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh, under Nishant Kumar Yadav, has institutionalised a citizen interface through a newly-created Citizen Interaction and Assistance (CIA) branch.

“The idea was to give citizens a single-window, responsive, and result-oriented platform where they could walk in, share their problems, and get prompt redressal,” Yadav said, adding, “Governor Kataria’s initiative to revive the spirit of daily public contact has made governance more people-centric. Citizens can now meet us directly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and we ensure that issues are not merely heard but resolved.”

The DC’s office now holds structured public hearing sessions every Wednesday from 11 am to 12 noon, while a joint hearing with the SSP takes place every Friday at the DC office, in addition to the officers’ respective daily public hearing schedule.

Since the initiative began earlier this year, 757 citizens have personally met the DC, presenting a wide range of civic and administrative issues — from unauthorised constructions, estate transfers, and traffic bottlenecks to senior citizen’s safety and municipal grievances.

According to official data, 30 per cent of complaints were concerned with the Estate Office, 20 per cent with the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC), 15 per cent with policing, 10 per cent each with revenue and cooperative societies, and 5 per cent with the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), employment, education, and traffic.

“The system has brought real accountability. In many cases, complaints pending for months were cleared within days after being raised at the public hearing,” Sudhir Kumar, a resident of Sector 45, who had approached the DC over a delayed property transfer, said. “For the first time, I saw an officer personally taking note and getting it done within a week. This gives people confidence that the administration is listening.”

Among the notable cases successfully addressed was that of Kasturi Devi, whose long-pending transfer of ownership case was resolved within six weeks. Similarly, a grievance about medical negligence raised by Surinder Mohan Kohli regarding treatment of his mother at GMCH, Sector 32, was promptly forwarded to PGIMER, Chandigarh, for inquiry. “Earlier, we didn’t know where to go or whom to approach,” Kohli said. “This initiative has given ordinary citizens like us a clear path to justice.”

Another public hearing led to the removal of encroachments on Sarangpur-Khuda Jassu road, easing severe traffic jams for local residents. “We had complained several times before but nothing happened. Once we raised it before the DC, the problem was solved in days,” Tejwant Singh, a local resident, said. “It has shown us that the government can act when it wants to.”

The DC’s office also took up community-level issues, including ensuring safe pedestrian access near Gurdwara Sahib, Sector 34, where instructions were issued to the Engineering Department to create a central verge passage during a recent road safety meeting.

Officials said the initiative had not only improved grievance redressal but had also strengthened inter-departmental coordination by bringing multiple agencies — the Estate Office, MCC, CHB, and police — onto a common platform for prompt action.

“The Governor’s directive to make officers more accessible is transforming the administrative culture of Chandigarh,” Yadav added. “Every public hearing becomes a test of how responsive we are. The numbers speak for themselves — hundreds of citizens getting genuine relief within defined timelines.”

With the Governor’s push and the DC’s proactive implementation, the public grievance hearing system has turned into a citizen confidence-building measure, ensuring that governance in Chandigarh moves from files to field — and from offices to the people.