Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday revived public grievance hearing 16 years after its discontinuation and said the iron wall that existed between the public and the government has been broken.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) reminded the Majhi government of its poll promise of waiving the electricity bill by up to 300 units on the same day.

Although the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell operated earlier, the then chief minister Naveen Patnaik hardly went there. The cases were resolved at the officials’ level.

Many people, including the differently abled, turned up to meet Majhi and lodge their grievances.

Majhi said: “The first priority of the state government is to listen to the people’s grievances and resolve them. For this, from the grassroots to the district and state levels, we are trying to revive the system of hearing the public grievances and how the people benefit from it.”

He added: “For the last few years during the last regime, there was an iron wall between the people and the administration. Today, we dismantled the iron wall. The Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell started again. Sometimes people go to different forums but they fail to get their issues addressed. Many people who fail to get justice now can hope to get justice.”

Majhi said: “I have directed the government officials to find ways to resolve the grievances. Now, in all 30 districts, the grievance cells have opened. Disabled persons approached the system as they were deprived of facilities under different government schemes. The hearing of grievances will be held every Monday. We will try to operate the system smartly.”

To reduce the number of complaints reaching the state level, Majhi asked people to go to the district-level administration with their grievances. “Once they meet at the district level, the number of complaints to the state level will decrease. Those complaints we received have been sent to the different departments to resolve them.”

“Action has been taken around 99 per cent of the grievances received during the programme,” Majhi said.

Addressing a news conference, BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said: “The BJP has made a promise to waive bills up to 300 units. As the month begins today, we
expect the government will announce this effect soon. All the BJP leaders remained silent on the issue after they came to power.”

During the election, the BJP had promised to implement PM Surya Ghar Mufti Bijli Yojana, and under the scheme, solar installation will be made at a negligible price or for free. Beneficiaries will get a ₹75,000 subsidy for installing rooftop solar panels, allowing the consumer to use up to 300 units for free and sell the rest to the government.

The BJD raked up the issue on Monday and wanted to know the progress that has been made in this connection.