Mamata says 10 lakh people called her helpline, but here’s how many actually got help

The Mamata Banerjee administration in Bengal has launched two helplines since June, including the much-publicised Didi Ke Bolo.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at a party meeting last week | Ashok Nath Dey | ThePrint

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s showpiece citizen helpline, Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Didi), received around 4.2 lakh complaints in its first month from 1 August to 29 August, a fact she paraded on Twitter last month.

However, only about 700 complaints, around 0.17 per cent, were resolved in August, ThePrint has learnt. Didi Ke Bolo is one of two helplines launched by Mamata since June. 

While the first is meant to be a government initiative, launched after the BJP emerged a prominent player in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Didi Ke Bolo is a Trinamool Congress (TMC) project that is being run through a private agency.

Complaints received by both are handled by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

‘Not right to release data’

On 29 August, Mamata released some statistics on Didi Ke Bolo. 

I am humbled with the overwhelming response of the people on the @DidiKeBolo platform. In the last 30 days, over 10 Lakh people have reached out to us with their words of appreciation for the initiative, valuable suggestions & grievances.(1/2) pic.twitter.com/JwP8W3nEhg

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 29, 2019

According to her, over 10 lakh had approached the helpline in August, of which 42 per cent or 4.2 lakh registered grievances and 32 per cent offered suggestions. 

While the chief minister’s tweet did not mention the number of grievances resolved, a senior CMO official told ThePrint that only around 700 were either addressed or resolved over the past one month.

According to the official, the Didi Ke Bolo platform is managed by an agency appointed by the TMC. Approached for information on the number of complaints resolved, the agency in question said the task of solving the problems didn’t lie with them.

“We do not control the government machinery anyway. We are also not here to resolve issues,” said an official of the agency. 

“We only take issues to the chief minister and it is her office that refers those to the departments concerned. So, we do not have any data on problems and issues addressed,” added the official who did not wish to be named. 

According to the official, Didi Ke Bolo prioritises calls from people in distress. Of the 214 distress calls, seeking immediate help, received in August, 161 were addressed. 

The poor resolution numbers have triggered some murmurs in the administration about the wisdom of sharing complaint data with the public. 

“It was not right to release the data. If one interprets the data, it only humiliates the government,” said one of two CMO officials contacted by ThePrint. “It was tweeted through the chief minister’s handle, which made things even worse. We were not able to publish the number of issues addressed or resolved.” 

Government helpline doing better

During the launch of Didi Ke Bolo, the chief minister said the government and the party functioned separately and both would have their own grievance redressal cells. But that is not what is happening, said the aforementioned senior CMO official. 

All calls, website entries and responses, through the government cell and Didi Ke Bolo, converge into the same system under the CMO. 

The government cell, however, seems to be doing better, even though the advertisement blitzkrieg surrounding Didi Ke Bolo means it is the one receiving a higher number of complaints. 

It is learnt that the government’s grievance cell received 20,000-odd complaints and suggestions in three months, of which 50 per cent were issues related to local politicians and politics. 

“Of the total, around 6,000 are grievances. Action has been taken in around 2,100 cases (35 per cent). We are working on these,” said another senior CMO official. 

Asked about the poor resolution numbers for Didi Ke Bolo, a state minister said it “was a process”. 

“The grievance cell is an outreach programme. We have created a platform for people to reach the government and the party,” the minister added, “As far as resolution is concerned, we surely need time. Two grievance cells, one managed by the government and the other by an agency on behalf of the Trinamool Congress, are running. However, more responses are being recorded by the party-run cell as there has been a massive campaign going on.” 

“Senior ministers and leaders are travelling to villages in their respective areas to talk to people,” the minister said. “This is a process.”