Smart Trichy mobile app yet to gain traction

Trichy residents are yet to show enough confidence in the Smart Trichy mobile app to have their grievances ad-dressed by the civic body. Consequently, the corporation is planning a wave of publicity initiatives to increase the outreach of the app, launched in August last year In fact, many residents are yet to download the app on their smartphones. "So far, over 1,000 people have downloaded the app, which is a very small number We always appreciate people coming to our offices with grievances but these can also be addressed using the app. The complaints are always ad-dressed properly and our top officials monitor them," said officials. On an average, the corporation receives about 300 com-plaints every month through the app. According to sources, over 80 per cent of these complaints are resolved by the concerned official within 24 hours.

"Residents from various zones are using the app to have issues addressed. A majority of complaints are related to civic issues like the dumping of garbage in public places, irregular garbage collection and drainage issues. We have acted on most of these within 24 hours," said officials. "We are also getting com-plaints regarding water connections, the condition of roads in different areas and several other issues. We for-ward these complaints to the concerned officials and they are resolved. In some cases, like for damaged roads, it could take some time, but all these are brought to the attention of the concerned officials," a senior official said. The challenge to the civic body is that people still prefer coming to corporation offices in person to have their com-plaints addressed.

"We are addressing complaints made through the mobile app but residents still prefer to come to corporation offices. However, we believe more residents will take to the mobile platform in the coming days. We will also take necessary measures to in-crease its outreach," said sources.
Some city residents pointed to fear of technical glitches as a reason for the lack of trust in the online grievance platform started by the civic body. "I am not comfortable with the technology. This apart, a senior citizen like me will not trust the online platform completely But, if I was aware the corporation is addressing complaints received through the mobile app in 24 hours, I would have used the help of my son in filing the complaint. I would have also avoided com-ing to the corporation office," admitted N Pattabiraman, a senior citizen who arrived at the corporation office with a grievance.
/source epaper . newindianexpress. com/c/34368115