Jharkhand got its first mobile app of a civic body to address the complaints of residents.

Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) — the state-owned civic body that supervises civic utilities in non-Tata Steel command areas in the city of Jamshedpur — on Tuesday launched the ‘Citygen’ app funded and developed by ICICI bank.

“It would be the first such app for a local urban body in Jharkhand incorporating all civic utilities in one app. In the first phase, the civic body supervisors and officers will use the app and each of the establishments (commercial and residential) will be provided with a unique identity. We also plan to roll out for the residents of the city soon,” Krishna Kumar, JNAC special officer, said.

Sources in the JNAC informed that at the moment the ‘Citygen’ app would be on a hybrid platform, but would be available on public domain for download by masses in December.

“As of now it would be on a hybrid platform and can be accessed only by JNAC staff and supervisors. However, we plan to roll it out for common masses by this year-end. By then each of the beneficiary houses will get a unique identity and can fill up detailed information about problems pertaining to civic problems. Be it drinking water, septic tank cleaning, doorstep waste collection, street lights, clogged drains etc after downloading the app,” Kumar said.

Significantly JNAC caters to over 50,000 residents in 10 wards outside Tata Steel company command areas. Those residing in Tata Steel command areas have utility services provided by Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services Limited.

JNAC solid waste management expert, Saurabh Kumar said that supervisors and staff through the app would get exact information about the residents, their locations and the problems plaguing them in terms of civic amenities.

“As of now we do not have proper data about our beneficiaries. We would be assigning each of the beneficiary households with a unique identity, which would be available with the supervisors and staff. This will help the staff can plan out redressal of waste collection, drinking water, spraying of fogging machines and other problems,” Saurabh said.

After the app is available on a public platform, residents can download it and enter their unique identity to log into the app.

“Residents will be able to track the locations of doorstep waste collection vehicles. Lodge any complaint pertaining to civic problems seamlessly through their smartphones and get the problem addressed within a stipulated time frame. They can also download pictures of civic menace on the platform,” he said.

There are over 44 local urban bodies and few nagar panchayats in Jharkhand.