PRAYAS - (Online Public Grievance Monitoring System) http://kathua.nic.in/prayas/home.aspx

Project conceived, initiated, approved and implemented By(Project HEAD)

Jitendra Kumar Singh, IASDeputy Commissioner, Kathua

Project Prepared By(Nodal Officer)

Rajesh Gupta DIO NIC Kathua

Project Team Member Sahil Khajuria, CICO, Hiranagar

District Profile Kathua District is situated at 320 17' to 320 55’ North

Latitude and 750 70' to 760 16’ East longitude. The District is surrounded by Punjab in the South-East, Himachal Pradesh in North-East, District Doda and Udhampur in North and NorthWest, Jammu in the West and Pakistan in the South West. Dogri is the main language spoken by the people of the district. Though the dogri spoken in some parts of the district has the influence of Punjabi tone also. The Language in the rural and hilly areas has maintained its native purity, accent and sweetness. However a very small section of the Population residing in Lohai-Malhar and BANI Blocks also speaks Kashmiri. GOJRI is also spoken by the Gujjar Community settled here and there.

Lohai-Malhar, Bani, Basohli and Billawar Blocks of Kathua district are the hilly and most of the villages of these blocks do not have th road connectivity. Some of the villages of these blocks are more than 20 to 30 Kms by foot.

District at a glanceNAME UNIT MAGNITUDEGeographical Area Sq.Kms 2502Area Sq.Kms 727.32No. of Sub-divisions Nos. 3 (Billawar, Basohli, Bani)No. of Tehsils Nos 5 (Kathua, Hiranagar, Billawar, Basohli,

Bani)No. of Blocks Nos 8 (Kathua, Hiranagar, Barnoti, Billawar,

Lohai-Malhar, Basohli, Bani, Duggan)

No. of Villages Nos. 512No. of Panchayats Nos. 244No of Niabats Nos 27No. of patwar halqas Nos 192 Population (2011 Census) Nos Male Female TOTAL

326109 290326 616435

Sex Ration (2011 Census) Nos 877Density of Population (2011) Nos 246 persons per Sq Kms

Literacy %age %age 73.50 %

Challenges 1. Difficult Terrain: Most of the part of the Lohai-Malhar,

Bani, Basohli and Billawar Blocks is hilly. Bani – is 200 Kms (approx)from District HQ and it takes

about 10-12 hours to reach there. Most of the villages of Bani are by foot.

Basohli – is 85 Kms (approx)from District HQ and it takes about 3-4 hours to reach there. Most of the villages of Basohli are by foot.

Lohai-Malhar – is 110 Kms (approx) from District HQ and it takes about 6-7 hours to reach at Katli and from there it is 5 Kms by foot Most of the villages of of the block are by foot

2. Lack of road connectivity: Due to which they are not in a position to lodge their grievances and their grievances are remain unheard. Therefore administration remains ignorant about their demands and the apathy towards administration increases which always reflects in poor delivery of services to the common people.

Challanges

● Officers behavior when it comes to dealing with common man and their grievances

● Outdated and Out of use systems of grievance handling

● Decreasing manpower ● Inefficient human resource

management systems

PRAYAS - (An SMS based Online Public Grievance Monitoring System) http://kathua.nic.in/prayas/home.aspx

Name of the project PRAYAS (Online Public Grievance Monitoring System)

Project conceived, initiated, approved and implemented By

Jitendra Kumar Singh, IASDeputy Commissioner, Kathua

Project Prepared and Technical support provided By Rajesh Gupta, DIO NIC KATHUA Suvash, NIC J&K State Unit

Project Start Date 22-05-2013

Total No. of Grievances registered as on date 1020

No. of cases disposed 900

No. of cases in process 120

No of cases not disposed 120

For redressal of public grievances, the District Development Commissioner, Kathua along with all District Officers/Sectoral Officers listen to Public grievances through Speaker Phone installed at the Conference Hall of DC Office Kathua every Wednesday between 10 Am to11 AM. Any person can call to the Deputy Commissioner at that time and his/her grievances are noted down and marked to the concerned District officer for taking immediate action required to solve the grievances. Phone No. is: 01922- 238796.

Benefits of PRAYAS Centre Kathua (J&K)

Any Person,Any TimeFrom Anywhere

Simple & user friendly

Transparent

Effective

Responsive

Handle Unresolved Complaints

Improving Delivery ofPublic Services

GoodGovernance

01922 – 238796PRAYAS Centre

Kathua (J&K)

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Steps taken for wide publicity of “PRAYAS”

Hoardings and wall paintings at important public places,

Broadcasting of PRAYAS Documentary at local TV channels, FM (AIR), Kathua

Regular coverage of events, meetings, action taken through local print and electronic media.

PROJECT SUMMARY

S.No Item Value

1 Name of the project PRAYAS (Online Grievance Monitoring System)

2 Owner of the Project Deputy Commissioner, Kathua

3 Administrative Co-ordination

Deputy Commissioner, Kathua

4 Technical Support & Application Software

NIC Kathua, Unit

5 Project Execution By Deputy Commissioner, Kathua

6 Target Audience District Administration and General Public

7 Start Date 22-05-2013

8 Sources of funds District Administration

OBJECTIVES & SCOPE

The objective of the PRAYAS – Centre Kathua provides services during the office hours in an integrated manner in an efficient, transparent, easily accessible, responsive, user friendly, cost effective and time saving platform for Public grievances rederssal through the use of telecom/ IT services.

All Submissions at a single point through Landline/ Mobile Phone. PRAYAS – Centre Kathua aims to provide qualitative and time bound delivery of Public

services at common man’s door steps. Committed date for the delivery of service. PRAYAS – Centre Kathua shall prove its worth in providing additional

important services:- Help line for Disaster Management and mitigation Nodal centre for cross checking the progress and quality of different development

works and flagship projects of Government Ultimate objective is to strengthen the concept of Good Governance by

Restoring Public Faith & Reliability in the Administrative Setup through Effective use of Commonly Available ICT tools

IMPLEMENTATION OF PRAYAS

Effective Public Grievance rederssal is the top most priority of the District Administration. Deputy Commissioner Kathua (J&K) has developed a platform Known as “PRAYAS” with the technical support of NIC District Centre Kathua.

PRAYAS is a very honest effort to redress grievance of the remote and rural people like Bani, Lohai-malhar, Basohli, Billawar and other remote areas who could not afford to visit the District HQ to meet Deputy Commissioner. As it will cost more than Rs 500 to a person who has to come to Kathua from Bani tehsil to simple lodge his grievance. And if he is not able to meet Deputy commissioner on that day (as he may be on tour/meeting etc) then the poor complainant has to stay for 1 more day at District HQ which will again cost Rs 400-500 more. So, the complainant has to spent Rs 800-1000 and also his/her 3-4 days may be wasted to simply lodge his/ her grievance.

A common man of remote area is not familiar with government culture, procedure and the schemes being implemented for his benefits.

He has to visit from pillar to post for varied services of district administration.

He comes to know about non-completion/completeness of his application after a long delay.

A common man hesitates in visiting the Government offices due to which he becomes dependent over other people

SALIENT FEATURES OF PRAYAS Kathua CENTRE

To provide a easily accessible, friendly, affordable, speedier and efficient interface between the government and the public.

To ensure greater transparency, efficiency, objectivity, accountability and speed that can help tackle most of the maladies of the government by providing efficient services to the public.

The Most Potent, Readily & Widely Available, User friendly, Cost-Time-Labor Effective mode of communication available today is mobile. Kathua PRAYAS centre ensures best possible synergetic use of available telecom features

Regular Monitoring by Deputy Commissioner for delays beyond the specified dates

How PRAYAS Works

PRAYAS

No. and Date Name of Complainant

Complaint Marked To the Officer

Reply Received

PRAYAS/2013/427Dated 13-11-2013

Deepak Sharma, R/o Bhaddu 9797628176

There is Middle School in Bhaddu- there are 80 students but only 1 teacher and 1 is attached in ZEO Office. Requested to kindly provide teacher in MS Bhaddu.

CEO Kathua CEO Kathua replied that there are 47 students in Middle School Bhaddu, and out of six sanctioned posts of teachers there are only two in the school namely Smt. Monika Gupta and Sh. Ajay Dagoria. The post of master is also lying vacant since 21-10-2013. It is further submitted that none of the two teachers is attached to any institution or office

PRAYAS/2013/431Dated 13-11-2013

Hans Raj, R/o Dar Duggnu9697698984

Ration is not available for the last 4 months in Dhar Dugnoo

AD CAPD The TSO CA&PD Billawar has reported that the ration could not supplied to sale centre Dhar Dugganu due to the rainy season. The ration is being distributed to the rationees for 2months and remaining quota of 2 months is being issued to the rationees during 11/2013.

PRAYAS/2013/439Dated 13-11-2013

Suresh Kumar, Chhan Rorian, 9858596378

Our house was damaged during recent floods/ rains. My name also exists in the List prepared for compensation by thesildar. But I have not got any relief compensation where as others have got it.

AC Revenue Kathua

ACR Kathua replied that their case is under Partially damaged building And it shall be done within 1 week.

PRAYAS/2013/411Dated 06-11-2013

Uplesh AndotraKathua9419659117

In Village Badala, there is no water connection in Medical Sub-Centre which is an newly constructed building (Rs 10 lacs)

CMO, XEN PWD and XEN PHE Kathua

Water connection installed in Medical Sub- Centre Badala.

Sample Report

Government process re-engineering InformationPRAYAS – Centre Kathua shall prove its worth in providing additional

important services:- 

Help line for Disaster Management and mitigation

It can be used for cross checking the progress and quality of different development works and flagship projects of Government

Technology Used

The name of the database on which the e-Gov initiative is based

SQL Server 2008

The name of the Operating System on which the database mounted

Windows Server 2008

Web-server used, if any Web server of NIC HQ New Delhi

Data center used for the initiative The application is housed in house and no third party Data center is in use

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PRAYAS’s Attitude to Grievances

“Grievances are jewels

to be treasured”

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Ultimate Objective of “PRAYAS”

To strengthen the concept of Good Governance by Restoring Public Faith & Reliability in the Administrative Setup through Effective use of Commonly Available ICT tools.

Screenshots of the Website http://kathua.nic.in/static/misc/Grievances.htm

Status of Grievances can be cheked online

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We welcome suggestions and queries if any for further betterment of the system. You can contact us at…

website: www.kathua.nic.in

E-mail: kathua@nic.in jitsin100@gmail.com

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District Development Commissioner, Kathua along with all District Officers/Sectoral Officers listening to Public grievances (11-06-2014)

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PRAYAS team extends personal thanks to

All concerned for Recognizing, Supporting &

Encouraging Our initiative.

Thank you