Kathmandu. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, which is in search of a culture that not only listens to the people’s grievances but also takes them to the resolution, has started a new practice in service delivery in recent period.

The Ministry and its subordinate bodies have become more active after Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha gave priority to the working style of ‘listening to the complaints and addressing the complaints immediately’ immediately after assuming the office.

Following Minister Shrestha’s directive, the hotline number 1151 related to electricity service has been made more effective. The hotline, which operates 24 hours a day, is no longer limited to receiving complaints, but has been developed as a direct mechanism for resolving the problems, according to the Ministry. The system has been made result-oriented to resolve the complaints received from the service recipients through phone, WhatsApp and email to Hello Sarkar by coordinating with the concerned bodies.

Minister Shrestha’s secretariat has taken it forward in a responsible and accountable manner rather than the regular administrative process. Minister Shrestha’s chief personal secretary Sanjeev Maharjan and personal secretary Raja Shakya have been coordinating with the concerned bodies to address the issues of public concern. The Secretariat has started the practice of not only taking the complaints received at the Ministry to the bodies concerned but also taking them to the stage of resolution.

According to the ministry, more than 10,392 complaints have been received through hotline and other means since March 29. A total of 4,248 complaints were received through phone, 14 through WhatsApp, two via email and 5 through Hello Sarkar. Since then, 6,026 complaints have been registered through phone, 92 through WhatsApp and 10 through email. Apart from this, the Secretariat has also started the process of resolution by keeping a monitoring of more than two hundred applications received in writing and issues of public concern published in the media.

Most of the complaints received are related to electricity service. Electricity accidents, obstruction of power lines, failure of transformers, low voltage, overflowing of electricity transmission and distribution lines, toppling of electric towers and poles, shifting of poles, fire in wires, non-availability of meters, problems in meter reading, problems in EV charging, problems in irrigation etc. were the major issues raised in the meeting.

In some cases, the ministry has been directly active. The power supply in Karnali Province has been affected after two towers under Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV transmission line collapsed at Chisapani of Banke district.

Likewise, power supply was disrupted in Waling and Bhirkot municipalities of Syangja district after 65 hours due to damage to a transformer. One of the complaints that had reached the Ministry was the issue of shifting the poles that had been erected in the middle of the road in Swayambhu area of Kathmandu for years. The problem has been resolved through coordination with the local level, Nepal Electricity Authority and the bodies concerned, according to the Secretariat.

This style, adopted by the Ministry of Energy in recent times, has tried to give the impression of a government being heard. Unlike the trend of waiting for months after registering complaints, the practice of immediate response and direct monitoring is expected to improve public service delivery and increase the trust of service recipients.