Creation of Helpline and launching SMS Channel in the District

A fast and reliable communication channel between the Administration and the Citizens is quite important to ensure proper public participation and informed decision making. A slow and inefficient system mars the participation and makes it onesided and quite often it results in inefficient utilisation of resources and leads to lots of wastages. Like the response time of ambulances in case of emergency. Unless the information reaches to the Hospital Control Room on time, however efficient the response mechanism is, it cant react when it is needed. Same is the case with police. So everywhere the innovations are tried to make the communication system efficient.

In Saiha since my joining, it was my endeavor to create an efficient communication system. The public participation in the various processes was almost nil and was achieved through  their elected representatives, NGOs etc. The first step to ensure participation was to create a mechanism to disseminate the information to the public at the earliest. It leads to the complete overhaul of the district website and encouraging different departments/agencies to upload the data relevant to their functioning. The officials in majority were not net friendly but now slowly they started using the internet and the benefits accompanying it. Now I would say it has become a stable and feature rich website. But still it does not carry any C2G applications. It is just used as a medium of information dissemination. Because of lack of use of IT in service delivery in the district, it lacks any such application, but slowly this may change as under the National E-Governance Programme, now the emphasis is on use of IT in service delivery.

The second step was to start a helpline. Thanks to BRGF, we got helpline staff and necessary instrument. The disaster management helpline 1077, which was lying idle was taken to task for multpurpose helpline. The people have been quite slow in owning it, but soon after the rainy season, an increased use is expected. Here the culture of making petition to the Government is not existing and people are satisfied with whatever the Government deliver, it may be due to their law abiding nature or the efficiency of the system in its delivery, but I want at this helpline can be used for forwarding suggestions, if not any complaints. Interestingly, 1077 does not forward the calls made from cellphone to the installed no, so the landline no is also given by the BSNL.

In sum the help line no is established as 1077 and +91-3835-222609 which works during office hours on working days. We are trying to popularise it. I was surprised to find that similar problem exist with other helplines like 100, 101, 102. These helplines we are trying to disseminate regularly along with their land line nos so that it can be patronised by the people.

The third step recently we have undertaken is to create an SMS service. Here due to its geography, frequent landslides, power outage occurs and many a times general public is unaware about such phenomena. To ensure timely dissemination of these information, we wanted to initiate an SMS service. In Delhi under the Disaster Management Authority we started but here we were not that resourceful, so we banked upon free SMS provider and lastly we chose Google SMS Channel. Its wonderful and quite handy. Messages can be posted from mobile phone by sms or from website of channel. It allows moderated post by other users too. It is much better than other SMS channel as it is not based on premium no but on simple 10 digit mobile no, due to which it is quite cheaper for the sender. We are informing subscribers about the important events, landslides, power outages right now. In near future we want to use it for dissemination about other services like price information for farmers, petroleum stock positions, Gas Supply positions etc.

Any one can subscribe the sms channel by sending an sms: "On DC_Saiha" to +919870807070. Its so simple, kudos to Google Labs Team, they always come with the simple and innovation products.

These systems we have put in place without calling any outside experts and on the basis of our felt needs and with the locally available human resources with the NIC. My NIC team is superb and is always ready to respond despite of facing difficulties in power supply, network problems.

The idea which now i want to implement is to create a virtual platform like a google group, blog etc through which the users can put forward a view on any government programme, social issues etc so that a meaningful discussion can take place which we can take into account in evolving a response mechanism. I like Solution Exchange initiative of UN Team India, which draws expert from all the corners of the country and the Group Moderator at the end presents a paper on the topic. It really helps a lot in getting expert ideas. Since the problems of the district are local in nature, so, i want to elicit responses which are specific to the district and I am searching for a proper platform for it. I need help from the readers on it, if they have come across any such virtual platform which we can create without any extra cost with locally available resources with the establishment.

The present times are characterised by the ICT revolutions and information dissemination with ultra fast speed. The world is more connected now virtually and emotionally if not physically; if the Government institutions do not participate in this connected world, then it will not be able to connect through the citizenry. The swifter and reliable communication system holds the future of Citizen-Government relation, gone are the days when snail mail used to deliver the typewriter-typed letters and we used to respond slowly to any phenomena now the time is of quick responses and faster delivery and ensuring cost and time efficiency.

[ DC Helpline: 1077, +91-3835-222609; 

You too can Join DC Saiha SMS channel by sending an SMS "On DC_Saiha" to +919870807070 and witness its power. 

You are also requested to take a tour of the updated website http://saiha.nic.in and give your invaluable feedback for further improvements.]