Centre approves INR 235 cr outlay for administrative reforms, public grievance redressal

New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) The Centre has approved an outlay of INR 235 crore for a revamped scheme for administrative reforms to be implemented in the next two financial years in the the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, an official statement issued on Thursday said.

The scheme will take up ambitious next-generation administrative reforms matching with the new aspirations of ‘Viksit Bharat’, it said.

This revamped scheme has two verticals — administrative reforms and a comprehensive system for redressal of public grievances, said the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

“The government has approved an outlay of INR 235 cr for revamped scheme for administrative reforms of DARPG to be implemented in next two years (2024-25 and 2025-26 ) of the 15th Finance Commission cycle,” it added.

The scheme for administrative reforms with an allocation of INR 107 crore seeks to utilise the resources for Prime Minister’s awards for excellence in public administration for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and conduct of civil services day conferences, regional conferences for replication of good governance practices in states, Union Territories and e-governance practices, among others, the statement said.

A total of INR 128 crore has been allocated for designing a comprehensive system for redressal of public grievances, it added.

With this allocation, the scheme seeks to take forward the 10-step reforms aimed at improving quality of grievance redressal and reducing timelines by developing an AI-enabled comprehensive system, the release said.

The project will integrate all other grievance portals to the existing online platform — Centralised Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), it said.

The CPGRAMS, which would serve as the single largest interface for public grievances after the integration, will enable citizens to raise public grievances online, it added.

In 2023, CPGRAMS received 19,45,583 cases up to end November and of these, 19,60,021 cases were redressed, the statement said.

Over the last 17 months, grievance redressal has crossed one lakh cases per month in Central Secretariat and 50,000 cases per month in states and Union Territories, it said.

The average grievance redressal time has come down to 17 days, the statement said.