Bengaluru East Residents Flag Flaws in Sahaya Grievance Redressal System

Residents of Bengaluru East raised strong concerns over major loopholes in the city's Sahaya grievance redressal system during a citizens' meeting held under the "Building the East" programme. The meeting was attended by the Bengaluru East City Corporation (BECC) Commissioner and heads of various parastatal agencies.

Participants pointed out that outdated official records, premature closure of complaints, and a lack of transparency have made it difficult for citizens to get civic issues resolved. Although Sahaya serves as a single platform for registering grievances with different civic departments, residents noted that outdated mapping of officers and departments severely undermines its effectiveness.

According to citizen volunteer G Kochu Sankar, many complaints are routinely assigned to officials who have already retired or been transferred to other departments months or years earlier. When complainants attempt to follow up, they discover the assigned officer is no longer responsible for the issue.

Residents also alleged that civic officials frequently mark complaints as "attended" or "resolved" without addressing the underlying ground-level problem. Because the system lacks a transparent progress trail and adequate proof of work, citizens find it difficult to challenge such closures. For larger infrastructure and civic works, complainants often remain unaware of action plans, required approvals, or timelines.

Privacy has emerged as another significant concern. Sankar noted that contact details of citizens reporting illegal constructions or zoning violations can reach the individuals against whom complaints are filed, exposing complainants to potential harassment or pressure.

To address these systemic flaws, residents submitted several reform proposals. They urged the administration to introduce live Sahaya dashboards at ward, zonal, and head offices to display open and resolved complaints, pending service-level agreements, and average resolution times.

They also suggested linking Sahaya with employee and transfer records to ensure automatic reassignment of complaints when officials change posts. Additional recommendations included mandatory time-stamped and geo-tagged photographs or videos before a ticket is closed, as well as automatic escalation to senior officials whenever a closed complaint is reopened.