Bhubaneswar: In order to make public services more transparent and bring in transformation in the working culture of the government offices in the state, the government of Odisha has started the Mo Sarkar Program. This path breaking initiative intends to weed out official apathy, change the working culture of the service delivery mechanism and make the government answerable to its citizens. The pet program of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is an important part of the 5-T initiative undertaken to bring out a transformation in service delivery by the government in the state.
Launched on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and adhering to the true principles of citizen centric government, Mo Sarkar is one of the pioneering initiatives in the whole country that is going to deliver definite positive results in the coming days. Devised by a team of senior officials under the Chief Minister’s guidance, Mo Sarkar takes into consideration the people’s needs and wants to use all the modern technology that is available to get the services delivery mechanism strengthened.
The government has come out with a 21 point guideline for the Mo Sarkar initiative for its better implementation by the departments and to take the feedback of the citizens. Mo Sarkar is an important initiative under the 5-T Mantra.
The twenty one point charter has the following points:
It intends to take the feedback of the people coming to government offices for any of the services. With the feedback, required transformation in the service delivery mechanism can be brought out and the behavior and ability of the officials delivering the services can be measured.
The feedback will be on how the officials behaved and how professionally the problems solved and whether steps were taken to solve the problems or not.
It is not a grievance redressal mechanism but a feedback initiative for the government offices to increase their ability in service delivery.
Any person going to a government department can give his feedback. It has been launched from 2nd October in all the police stations and District Hospitals of the State.
Whenever a person goes to a government office for any service his/her telephone number will be registered and a sms gill be sent within 24 hours. If message is not delivered, the persons can register themselves on the Mo Sarkar portal by giving a missed call to 14545.
Random numbers will be selected to take the feedback from the citizens on the services, so all persons registering with the Mo Sarkar may not get the feedback calls.
The Chief Minister, the Ministers, departmental heads and senior officials will take the feedback. For example, in a case related to a Police Station, the Chief Minister, Home Minister, DG, and the DIG will take the feedback. And for Hospitals, the Chief Minister, Health and Family Welfare Minister, concerned Secretary and Directors will take the feedback from citizens.
The identity of the person giving the feedback will not be divulged into public domain even if he/she gives a negative one related to the services.
The Mo Sarkar initiative mandates for better behavior and professional working culture to solve the problems. Hence, the questions for feedback will be related to the behavior, whether the citizens were subjected to any harassment by the officials, instances of bribery and was there any unfairness in service delivery.
A person going to the Government hospital will not face any problems there. There will be no bribery. The doctors present will treat and medicines and clinical tests will be provided free of cost. No patient will be forced to go to any private doctor or clinic or medicine store.
On the basis of the positive feedback of the citizens, the officials of the department will be praised and ranked. It will help them getting out of term promotions.
The negative feedback will be taken seriously and more feedback will be collected regarding the concerned department. Action will be initiated against those officials who are found to be lacking professionalism. A negative ranking will be given to the department and will under the lens of the authorities for correctional measures.
With the feedback system of the Mo Sarkar, two important aspects can be measured (1) Working mechanism of the government offices and the behavior of the officials can be measured, and (2) the professional and ethical attitude of the officials will be measured.
People are the life of Democracy. All institutions are set up for the people. All government officials are paid public money. All institutions belong to the public and they are the true owners of the institutions. On this principle, the mo Sarkar program is an empowerment initiative for the people.
Twenty one District Headquarter Hospitals and three Medical Colleges have been included in the program. By 30th October all District Hospitals will be included. By March 5th 2020, all government offices will be covered under the Mo Sarkar program.
You can also get a call from the Chief Minister if your number is included in the randomly selected numbers.
Even if a person is registered in an office for service delivery, he/she can again give a missed call to 14545 to receive a registration number.
The service is totally free and no money will be charged for the missedcall service.
The important feedback received from the citizens will help strengthen the responsibility of the government officials. The feedback will also be the benchmark for any positive or negative action against the departments concerned.
For instance, if you are visiting a hotel or a tourist place, your feedback is taken to measure the services. Private service delivery entities take feedback regularly to keep themselves improved. The people are asked to give ranking or tick on a number between 1 to ten based on their satisfaction. With this initiative, people will be empowered to and the delivery system will be strengthened.