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Rajasthan’s Rajsamand shows the way with Right to Hearing Act -Anindo Dey
-The Times of India

TOGI (RAJSAMAND): For once the crowd no longer mobs the district collector; not even in a surging camp of redressal seekers. Instead a nearby counter is mobbed. Up for grabs is a pink slip - the guarantee for an official hearing to all complaints.

By the end of the day, grievances ranging from faulty electricity connections, non payment of wages, old age pension, a simple request for work and host of other issues are heard and 490 men and women go home a happy lot. Their grievances heard and problems resolved.

Rajsamand in Rajasthan is at it again! Having cradled the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the district is on the threshold of showing the way once again - the way ahead for operationalising the Grievance Redressal Bill that promises a time bound grievance redressal mechanism.

Since the conception of such camps under the Right to Hearing (RTH) Act, which was adopted by the state in August last year, 6,544 grievances have been redressed through 136 camps held at the panchayat level in the district since December. Rajsamand is the only district in the state, and Rajasthan is the only state in the country to have passed and begun to implement the RTH Act that has many provisions similar to the central bill pending before the Parliament.

"This could be the way of taking the RTH Act further ahead in the state and for the Grievance Redressal Bill in the country. If the implementation of the Grievance Redressal Bill across the country is modeled on the Rajsamand pattern of the RTH Act, and strengthened with independent facilitation and appellate processes, it will ensure that all panchayats remain open across the country and millions of people are provided time-bound respite for their grievances," says Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, which has been helping the district administration here with implementation, and advocating wider implementation with the State and Central Governments.

Three simple steps carry forward this important journey from transparency to accountability. While creating a single window, Rozgar Sahayeks at every panchayat have been made responsible for accepting grievances and applications from people everyday between fixed hours at the Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras (Public Hearing Assistance booths). A pink receipt is given for all grievances lodged and every Friday all officers assemble at the panchayat, block, and district level for an open public hearing. The applicant must be given a hearing within 15 days and a written verbal order is given by the concerned officer within seven days after that. The whole cycle is completed within 21 days.

"The villagers no longer have to go hunting for the concerned office at the block or district headquarters. Instead, it is they who come to their panchayats or block for redressal," says Preetam Yashwant, collector, Rajsamand, who is implementing the Act in his district. "We hope to cover all 205 panchayats by February 21 and then after a break check whether the promises in the camps made are actually being fulfilled.''

"It is the receipt that is given to a person after the filing of a compliant that empowers the person literally to be a kind of Ombudsman, as the applicant is legally entitled to get an answer or solution to from the concerned officer," adds Dey.

And solutions have poured in for many at Togi during the camp. About 50 laborers, who have been fighting for the past three years to get their wages for drought relief work, now have the promise of getting them within the next seven days. Hansa Devi (75) will get her increased old age pension of Rs 750 from next month. Even her house under the Indira Gandhi Awas Yojna will be built on priority.

Shankar Singh, who has worked with the administration in spreading the message and inviting applications, says hundreds of problems have got sorted out. ``For the last 20 years, we have been struggling to get information out of government officers and we managed to bring in the Right to Information Act. Now we will take the struggle ahead by making them to act on this information.''

Aruna Roy, one of the founder members of the MKSS says, ``The camps in Rajsamand should result in the state adopting these innovations to institutionalize the Act properly. The single window system, the single day for hearing and the gathering of officers and the people creating a synergy is what is most essential for this as well as the Greivance Redressal Bill.''

She adds that the MKSS and other organisations will campaign for these measures to be adopted across the state, and for it to be a part of the Grievance Redress Bill currently pending before the Parliament. "This is an opportunity for us to fix the responsibility on each official, and the accountability of the government to deliver. Having seen the immense success of these provisions we are going to vigorously campaign for an appropriate Grievance Redress Act to be enacted in the budget session of Parliament."