Bengaluru: The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department is going hi-tech. They are planning to engage with the villagers and listen to their grievances from water problems to road issues, through the use of their official social media pages.
There are more than 6,000 gram panchayats and about 30,000 villages in Karnataka. There have also been several irregularities, misappropriation of funds delay in completion or even neglect of public works. Many of these cases go unnoticed as complainants have to submit their grievances in writing and it takes time to reach the concerned officials.
This new initiative by the RDPR will come as a relief to the villagers, many of whom are now on social media, who otherwise have to run about trying to solve their issues.
RDPR principal secretary L K Ateeq told The New Indian Express that despite providing training and conducting workshops for panchayat members, they continued to violate rules. He said that they are now trying to strengthen their Facebook and Twitter pages so that the villagers can raise complaints directly. “We will put forth the complaints to the concerned officials and make sure that the issues are sorted,’’ he said.
