BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy on Monday raised serious concerns in the Odisha Legislative Assembly over the absence of a fixed time limit for resolving public grievances at the grassroots level, saying the lack of a deadline is causing inordinate delays and growing public discontent.
Speaking during Question Hour, Tripathy pointed out that complaints lodged at block and district levels often remain pending for years, as there is no prescribed timeline for disposal. “People do not even know whether their grievance has been resolved or not. Due to the absence of any time limit, dissatisfaction is spreading among the public,” he said.
In response, Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, replying on behalf of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, informed the House that joint grievance hearings are being conducted at the district level by the Collector and SP. He urged MLAs to actively participate in these hearings, stating that their presence would ensure more sincere and speedy redressal.
The Minister claimed that 91% of grievances received by the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell have already been resolved. Since the new government took charge, 13,358 complaints have been registered with the CM’s cell, of which 12,432 have been disposed of. At the district, sub-division and tehsil levels, grievance hearings are held every Monday.
Giving statewide figures, Harichandan said a total of 14,41,832 grievances have been registered on the Jan Sunani portal, out of which 13,07,253 (over 90%) have been resolved. The remaining 1,34,579 complaints are mostly complex in nature and are under active consideration.
Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik (BJD) countered that even after grievance hearings, most complaints remain unresolved, and MLAs are not informed about the actual status. She demanded that a district-wise and block-wise list of grievances received and resolved be made public. Mallik also criticised the government, saying ration rice and PM Awas houses are still not being delivered instantly despite tall claims, and many grievance-related websites are non-functional.
The debate highlighted the continuing challenge of timely and transparent grievance redressal across Odisha, with both ruling and opposition members agreeing on the need for greater accountability and MLA involvement.
