Plenty of avenues for lodging plaints now

You could well be spoilt for choice if you have a complaint to make in Uttar Pradesh.

That’s because virtually everyone — from the district magistrates and police chiefs to the lawmakers, ministers and the chief minister himself — all are encouraging people to report their problems.

From May 1, the International Workers’ Day, the ministers of the Adityanath government will take turns at the party office in Lucknow, to hear the problems of the people. Senior party leader and agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi will be available at party office opposite Vidhan Bhavan from 10am to noon on May 1 and will be followed by other ministers who will take turns to hear the people on a daily basis. Soon after the swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath government, UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh had told HT that the government will get the ministers to hear public plaints at the party office daily; a practice that is already followed at the BJP office in Delhi.

The availability of ministers at the BJP office will help take the crowd pressure off the CM’s Janata Darbar where about 30,000 complaints, including those of land grabbing, indifferent police response in cases of rape, have been received over the last one month.

Also, victims of triple talaaq have been regularly turning up at the CM’s Janata Darbar.

But, if you have missed the CM’s Janata Darbar, one of Yogi’s ministers would be waiting to hear from you at the party office about three kilometres away. Not to forget the local BJP corporator and lawmaker who have been tasked with a similar exercise. Besides public representatives, the district magistrates and senior superintendents too have been asked to meet people from 9 am to 11 am. “The CM could test their availability by making surprise calls on their office landline phones,” said UP minister Shrikant Sharma.

On Saturday, several government servants were seen in their offices well before 9am.

All arrangements have been made to ensure that the common man is not put to any inconvenience. “At the party office, arrangements for cool, drinking water and other basic arrangements have been made for the convenience of the visitors,” says party spokesman Shalabh Mani Tripathi. BJP leaders in the districts too will be tasked with a similar role to indicate that the party and the government stand together for the common man.