By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 10: An online grievance redressal mechanism for the power sector has been rolled out by the state government, anchored on a helpline number—1971, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma informed the Assembly on Wednesday, addressing concerns raised about the lack of an effective complaint system.
Sangma said the helpline operates daily from 8 am to 8 pm and allows citizens to register complaints in both regional and local languages.
He explained that the initiative is fully data-driven, linked across departments, and supervised directly by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). The Joint Secretary-in-charge serves as the nodal officer for the system.
According to the Chief Minister, the helpline has already logged thousands of calls, with more than 1,000 pertaining to the power department. He said around 90 per cent of such complaints—mainly involving outages and transformer failures — have been successfully resolved. Information, Sangma added, is relayed instantly to the concerned officials to ensure a quick response.
Urging legislators to spread awareness of the facility, Sangma reiterated, “1971 is the number, and anybody can call to raise grievances or even seek information about government schemes.” He further revealed that discussions are underway to integrate the service nationally, using the code 0364 followed by 1971, on the lines of the emergency 911 system in the United States.