UD&HD sets up committee to look into public grievances

GANGTOK, 20 Nov: The Urban Development and Housing Department has constituted a five-member committee with the Additional Secretary as the chairperson to address public grievances in the department. The committee came into effect 28 August earlier this year.
The committee is required to monitor and ensure the speedy disposal of grievances of the public, however with almost two months passed since the committee was constituted, there have still been no complaints placed before it.
Speaking to NOW! today, Additional Secretary Dhan Jyoti Mukhia informed that the committee will look into all complaints and grievances related to the department as soon as a complaint letter or an application is received by the department. She informed that a separate Grievance Cell has also been setup within the department which shall look into these complaints directly.
“After the committee receives a complaint, the same will be forwarded to the concerned cells by the Grievance Cell. These complaints might take one to two days to about a week to be addressed keeping in view the extent of the complaint that is filed,” informed the Additional Secretary.
The five-member committee also includes the Joint Secretary, Town Planner and Divisional Engineer as members and the Deputy Secretary (II) as the Member Secretary.
It was also informed that grievances directed to the department could be works pending for too long, clearance of bills and files still under process within the department and other works and orders that have either been announced or submitted to the department but have still not been looked into or implemented.
With the institution of the committee, the department plans to ensure that all pending works and complaints are addressed immediately and the cases speedily disposed.