“Whoak” , “Dirty" - covering the nose by telling all such words has become a common scene today.
How often are we witnessing the garbages overflowing on the road? How often are we irritated on the absence of the garbage collecting van? How often are we scolding the civic authorities & the workers with whatever words comes to our mind for not collecting the garbages?
The obvious answer to all the above questions lies in the question itself - “Often” . It's quite often we get irritated by the civic issues like the one which is stated above. I could see a lot of people (Including the one I see in mirror everyday) keeps talking about this with their neighbours and also posting the same in the social media.
It is always wise to knock the right door than shouting in front of the wrong house. As such, the civic issues should be escalated to the right authority. There comes the questions of “who” & “how”!
We always have the traditional system of calling up the helpline number and escalating these complaints. In the current decade of WhatsApp & Facebook, it is obvious for us to expect that these kind of Civic issues should be raised & resolved on the go! To our surprise, it is possible.
Thanks to the Ministry of Urban Development, which has developed an APP by the name “Swachhata” under its Swachh Bharat mission. The APP works just the way we want it to be. It has a user friendly interface and easy to use options.
We can raise the complaints on the civic issues which we face in Chennai with the help of this app in just a few steps as explained below:
Step-1: Download the App:
The APP can be downloaded from the Google play store in the below link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichangemycity.swachhbharat
Step-2: Installing & Creating the Profile:
The app will prompt the Mobile number & other basic details to complete the registration.
Step-3: Identifying the Issues which can be raised using the APP:
We can use this APP only for the specified civic issues which are mentioned below:
1) Garbage Dump
2) Garbage vehicle not arrived
3) Dustbins not cleaned
4) Sweeping not done
5) Dead animals
6) Public toilet(s) cleaning
7) Public toilet(s) blockage
8) No water supply in public toilet(s)
9) No electricity in public toilet(s)
Step-4: Lodging the complaint through APP:
The issue can’t be raised through the APP without attaching the picture evidencing civic issue.
As such, a picture of the Civic-related issue has to be taken. The app provides options to upload the picture from our internal storage or to take the snap directly from the app.
If picture taken through the app directly, the location will be captured automatically. If it is uploaded, we need to type the exact location. In both the cases, landmark to be typed mandatorily.
Step-5: Resolving the Issue:
The complaint we raised through APP , will then be assigned to the concerned sanitary inspector / engineer. The complaint will be visible in the app like a Facebook timeline. The complaint status will be seen at the right top of the picture as “Open” / “Resolved” / “Rejected”.
Conclusion:
This is a great work by the ministry of Urban Development. Many of us might not be aware of this APP. So requesting everyone to share & spread the awareness.
Be the change & See the change!
Warm Regards,
Deepak Raghuraman