216 e-Governance: Case Studies

Chapter 15

Complaints Registration and Monitoring System (CRAMS)

Rajiv Prakash Saxena Deputy Director General, NIC

Abstract
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) receives various types of complaints from their allottees regarding the quarters that are maintained by them. The complaints are attended to by them as and when they are received. The house allottees go to the service centres in their locality to make their complaints. Service centres are usually open only during office hours to register the house complaints. The complaints are broadly divided into three categories. These are: 1. Civil 2. Electrical 3. Horticultural Under each category, complaints are broadly divided into two types. These are: 1. Major complaints 2. Minor complaints The development, customisation, implementation and rollout of this application are from Enablement to Interactivity or E-to-I of the occupation, vacation and maintenance of the government houses maintained by CPWD. CRAMS is also developed to file complaints and for monitoring the minor complaints that are received in the service centres of the CPWD. If the complaint received in the service centres is not in the category of minor complaints, the same is converted into a major complaint. Now, using CRAMS, complainants are able to make their complaints and get the status of a complaint from their homes itself, and they can do so round the clock (24 7) from anywhere and any time.

Background
The Government of India (GoI) owns a large number of residential units (68,000 plus) under the General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) at New Delhi. GoI allots them, through the Directorate of Estates (DoE), to the president, vice president, prime minister, ministers, MPs, Supreme Court and High Court judges, senior government officials and other employees and staff of the GoI and its attached/subordinate organisations. CPWD maintains these quarters. GoI has entrusted this work to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

Complaints Registration and Monitoring System (CRAMS) 217

Old System
CPWD receives complaints, about houses that are maintained by them from the allottees. The complainants have to come to the service centres in order to register their complaints. There is one complaint register in each service centre. Complainants write their complaints in this register. Service centres are open only during office hours to receive the complaints. After receiving the complaints, the complaints are segregated category-wise and then assigned to workers. After the complaint is attended to, the status of the complaint is written in the register. Because minor complaints have to be attended within 48 hours, they are unable to monitor the complaints. There are around 140 service centres spread across New Delhi. Financial sanctions are needed for major complaints to be addressed; for example, fencing for the house, tile work in the kitchen, etc. The time taken may be more for such complaints. However, as far as the minor complaints are concerned, they have to be attended to within 48 hours; for example, blocked drainage, water shortage, power failure, etc. Attending to minor works on time is very important for CPWD. CRAMS is mainly developed to file the complaints and for monitoring the minor complaints that are received in the service centres of the CPWD. If the complaint received in the service centre is not in the category of a minor complaint, the same is converted into a major complaint.

Stakeholders
NICCPWD Informatics Division This is a G2G, G2E and G2C application. As a pilot project, this system was started in 2002. It has been fully operational from the year 2003.

Objectives
Complainants should be able to make their complaints from their homes itself. Complainants should be able to make their complaints round the clock (24 7) from anywhere. Complainants should be able to lodge and get status of their complaints through phone using IVRS as well as through the internet. Reduce the time in making complaints. General public should be able to see the houses vacated and occupied during the day. Online updating of the Government Allotment Management System

218 e-Governance: Case Studies

Make the complaints or get the status of the complaints without human intervention. Avoid delay in quarter allotments.

Technology Used
CRAMS uses state-of-the-art IT tool kits. It is implemented using a threetier architecture as a web-enabled application. These are: The data base server uses SQL Server Database Server on a Windows 2000 Server. Web server uses IIS. The front end is the internet browser on Microsoft Windows. The application has been developed with ASP 3.0 and HTML.

Implementation
Initially, as a pilot project, it was implemented in two service centres (in Chanakyapuri). It has subsequently been implemented in 132 service centres in Delhi. Recently, it has been implemented in six new service centres in Delhi/ New Delhi. Totally, it is operational in 140 service centres.

Training to the Users/General Public

Initially, NIC had given onsite training to the officers who were posted in the service centres. Subsequently, the NIC had conducted several training programmes in the NIC headquarters for the CPWD officers at all levels. Due to large transfers in the year 2004, in 2005 NIC had trained 400 officers in the NIC headquarters free of cost. Recently, on August 30, 2006, NIC trained 60 additional officers from various service centres. For the general public, the web site address and IVRS phone numbers are written in bold cut-outs in all the service centres. All the quarter codes and complaint codes are displayed in the service centre notice boards, and one copy was given to all 68,000 occupants of the houses. Separate brochures were prepared about this site with instructions on how to operate IVRS, and the same were distributed to all the quarters. A sample copy is attached:

Complaints Registration and Monitoring System (CRAMS) 219

Sustainability
Working and steering committees were formed for resolving problems and monitoring. The web site receives around 3000 complaints through this system daily. In the year 2003, the web site received 1,74,838 complaints through this system. In the year 2004, the web site received 5,54,470 complaints through this system. In the year 2005, the web site received 6,87,074 complaints through this system. In the year 2006 (till September 14), the web site received 5,15,971 complaints though this system and may have crossed one million complaints by the year end. Month-wise breakup report for the year 2005 and 2006 are given in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 2 Month-wise Attendance of Complaints, 2006

NIC/CPWD Web (SC) 51217 48306 58640 54750 66374 62698 64616 64264 31346 502211 12680 515971 1077 32499 31262 513194 1923 66327 65894 1866 66668 66387 1495 64289 64035 1519 68026 67806 67724 63904 66172 65537 28495 509480 1095 55957 55820 55779 1911 60652 60561 60518 134 178 302 385 496 790 4004 6491 933 49351 49272 49231 120 861 52202 52157 52120 82 Web(R) Total Assigned Attended Pending

14/09/06 5:37:38 pm

Month

Year

IVRS

220 e-Governance: Case Studies

January

2006

124

February

2006

112

March

2006

101

April

2006

112

May

2006

133

June

2006

96

July

2006

186

August

2006

140

September

2006

76

Total

1080

Table 1 Month-wise Attendance of Complaints, 2005

NIC/CPWD Web(R) 2620 2209 2084 1844 1464 1000 1323 892 1680 1724 1631 1056 19527 687074 685790 60233 60177 45877 45851 45821 60130 685592 58114 58064 58037 60138 60040 60008 130 77 56 103 1482 47928 47834 47833 95 65133 65033 65028 105 57301 57210 57212 89 56165 56018 56019 146 57129 57000 57010 119 59747 59586 59583 164 58182 58037 58033 149 61127 60940 60878 249 Total Assigned Attended Pending

15/09/06 12:39:28 pm

Month

Year

IVRS

Web (SC)

January

2005

656

57851

February

2005

211

55762

March

2005

173

57490

April

2005

222

55063

May

2005

252

54449

June

2005

189

56112

July

2005

248

63562

August

2005

159

46877

September

2005

126

58332

October

2005

117

56273

November

2005

126

44120

December

2005

129

59048

Total

2608

664939

Complaints Registration and Monitoring System (CRAMS) 221

222 e-Governance: Case Studies

Regarding the attendance and usage of this system, questions were raised in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha based on inputs from this system. Recently, the secretary of MoUD had issued a letter to CPWD to generate occupation and vacation reports of quarters through this system.

Future Plans
Requests have been received to implement a similar system in other metros and state capitals of the CPWD, and also from other agencies and other sections like the Ministry of Defence.

Conclusion
Installation of CRAMS has produced very good results, which include the following: G2E, G2G and G2C e-governance tool. Since the pending list is on the internet, the complaints are addressed faster. CRAMS is a good management tool for senior officials of CPWD. CRAMS has made CPWD more responsive, providing a better and efficient service to government residents. Greater satisfaction to the public and users. User-friendly interface. A comprehensive data base is now available for planning and policy making.