The Hindu             29.11.2013

Thanjavur civic body’s SMS initiative catching up

Special Correspondent

Lodging complaints using Short Message Service (SMS) to Thanjavur Municipality on various civic issues is becoming popular among people of Thanjavur Municipal area if one goes by the number of complaints received by the municipality through SMS.

The service, with a view to provide instant solution to the problems of the people and to minimise their time and visiting municipal office many times, was introduced on October 5.

According to N. Ravichandran, Municipal Commissioner, 150 complaints have so far been received through SMS from people. Of them, solutions had been provided to 128 complaints. These include 59 streetlight problems (all the lights have been repaired), 13 related to solid waste management, three related to mosquito menace, 15 related to drinking water problems, 14 about the main drinking water pipeline, eight related to underground drainage and 16 related to stagnation of sewage water.

“All these complaints have been attended to and rectified,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

Twenty two complaints remain pending. They were related to dog and cattle menace.

“Animal Welfare Board has framed certain rules and regulations with respect to dealing with stray animals. We have to follow them and hence delay in providing solutions to these issues. It will be done after discussing with veterinary doctors and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

Demand for new roads and new streetlights will be attended to depending upon the availability of funds, he added.

“SMS has come in handy for people to lodge complaints. Previously they used to give written complaints at the service centre at the municipal office, give petitions at the weekly grievances day held at the collectorate on every Monday, and through postal or e-mail to municipal office. SMS service has made things easy for them. Every SMS will be attended to,” said Savithiri Gopal, chairperson of Thanjavur Municipality.

The Hindu             26.11.2013

Corporation gets software to manage civic issues

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

The Chennai Corporation will commission a comprehensive digital dashboard to manage civic issues using real-time data.

The civic body has initiated talks with organisations such as IBM, SAP and Oracle to put in place the digital dashboard, a single screen displaying problem areas in civic preparedness.

“It is a kind of abstract of the entire operations of the Chennai Corporation. It will be a single screen pointing to the problem areas we should concentrate on, on a particular day,” said an official of the Corporation.

A public grievance dashboard, for example, may show key performance indicators related to resolution of civic issues in real time. Similarly, a civic development works’ dashboard will show key performance indicators relating to roads, bridges, footpaths, parks, playgrounds, streetlights, hospitals and stormwater drains developed by Chennai Corporation.

The official can go down to the last detail to take specific action in real time. “The digital dashboard will provide analysis in a simplified manner. More than 95 per cent of the decisions of the civic body will be made based on information from the dashboard. It is more of a proactive than reactive approach,” said the official.

The existing modules cover property tax management system, works management system, personnel information and pay roll management system, public grievance redress management system, asset management system, and trade licences, among others.