NE NEWS SERVICE
AMARAVATI, DECEMBER 9
More than 52% of the citizens’ make use of “Spandana’’, the State’s grievance redressal system, are women and being well connected is the mantra in Prakasam district, where the police have been following for the effective way of communication and solving issues.
Spandana (Response), the pet project of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has not only won accolades from far and wide but has also gained the 7th G-Files Governance Award 2019 and Skoch Award. It is only because of Spandana, police have become more accessible to citizens, more so to women.
Access to information and connectivity has come in the district by setting up 84 terminals to enable all the police stations in the district to interact with the headquarters from SI, CI, DSP to SP level under the Spandana programme through which there can be a three-way video conference as well, said Prakasam district Superintendent of Police (SP), Siddharth Kaushal, who bagged the Skoch and G Files national Award which is given to civil servants for excellence in their line of duty
Normally women do not like coming to Police Stations and keep away as far as possible. With the Spandana coming into being, it has become a preferred service for women to avail help of police. As word spread about the procedure and friendliness, more and more people are coming forward with their grievances, he said.
We have specially trained women staff at the Spandana reception centres of more than 90% police stations around the state which is another factor for the good response to the programme.
The response to Spandana from a sample of few women whose problems were quickly solved, show that they are happy with the progrmme as they have direct access to the concerned officials through Spandana programme.
Success stories
Giving the first person account, a young woman, who complained about marital discord, said the issue was solved through counseling. One Lakshmi Soujanya, an LIC agent said that there was a theft in her house as miscreants robbed gold which bought for her daughter’s marriage. After giving a reminder in Spandana the case was solved in three days, she said and thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for the Spandana initiative.
Jayamma, a house wife said that the financer, who was charging a high rate of interest, had seized the auto from her husband and when complained, the auto was returned and the matter was settled through Spandana.
52% beneficiaries of Spandana are women
District SP Siddharth said that over 52% of the citizens availing the Spandana facility are women and the average time given to each complainant by the officer is 8.5 minutes.
Spandana, started on July 7, is being held on every Monday at all government offices in all districts where grievances will be received and acknowledged with a possible date of solving the issue by the concerned Department.
This apart connectivity is the best tool we have been employing in all the police stations to take forward the Spandana and all the officers, spread across the district of 18,000 sq. km. with a population of 40 lakh, will be online available for the conference and help out the people coming for redressal, said Siddharth Kaushal.
To enhance transparency of the Spandana, videos and posts on the programme are available on various social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, with about four million views.
Spandana Beyond Board, was launched on November 25 with the use of a low-cost video conferencing available from anywhere in the world. Many people from the US, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom, Dubai, UAE, Singapore, Bangalore, Delhi, Lucknow, Jammu and Hyderabad have utilized the services so far and solved their issues using the facility.
Besides the G Files Awards, Spandana Online was nominated by The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR & D), which operates under the National Police Mission in Delhi, for its Award, officials said here on Sunday.
