Viraj Deshpande (Lokmat News Network Nagpur)
Nagpur Live City app, a complaint redressal platform which was launched with much fanfare by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and promised to help citizens lodge complaints without visiting NMC's offices has been as dead as a dodo since mid-April with no signs of revival leaving citizens adrift. The NMC had made efforts to make the app popular and actually succeeded in doing so. Many citizens lodged complaints regarding choked gutters, open manholes, dug up roads, obstructing greenery and other civic issues and they, if reports are to be believed, were attended to. However, someone in the NMC then had this flash of brilliance and turned the switch off without informing the general public. It has been five months since the app was shut down but still many people are unaware and try to access it. Social activist Kunal Mourya said that the Live City app had become very popular. "Many people posted their complaints on it and NMC was unable to handle so many complaints". Yet, people were happy that there was somebody up there who was in the know of the complaint they had lodged. Then, activists say, unscrupulous babus started "closing" complaints without resolving them. This, they say, led to people to post screenshots of unresolved complaints bringing a bad name to the municipal corporation. "They must have shut it silently," believes Mourya. His version rings true as complaints even go unheard on NMC's social media platforms.
"Nagpur Live City app is not working where should I post my complaint," tweeted one Sunit Khatarkar while tagging NMC.Another citizen wrote, "Nagpur Live City app is not working. The app was a convenient way of informing irregularities in Nagpur city. NMC also used to take action on complaints." However, there is no response. The NMC's social media outfit, which takes a substantial amount from the NMC for handling its social media presence, is mum. Meanwhile, NMC had decided to launch another application 'My Nagpur' as part of a more elaborate plan to update NMC e-governance or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) which is going to cost around `5.50 crore. The app was initially supposed to be launched in the last week of May. However, the NMC failed to do so. A senior NMC official said that the new app is ready and they are waiting for the NMC commissioner to take a decision on its launch. "Meanwhile, citizens can lodge their complaint on NMC's website. We receive 40 to 50 complaints there daily, some of which are also being solved," said the official. The citizens are already facing problems to get their issues resolved in absence of an elected body. "The former corporators do not help us. They ask us to go and file a written complaint at NMC's head office. How can a person go to the NMC office and spend all day there," questioned a harried citizen. How indeed?