Implement 'Swagat Plus' to fix accountability: MHA to Police, CAPF

The Union Home Ministry has instructed the State police forces and the CAPFs to launch the Swagat Plus project which aims to address the grievances of the general public through a public web portal.

New Delhi: With an aim to give close attention to service-related grievances of the police and at the same time enable rural people to have easy and fast access to the highest level of the police force, the Home Ministry has asked State police forces as well as Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to launch Swagat Plus project. Prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), the Swagat Plus project also aims to empower ordinary citizens through an online public portal and connect them through video-conferencing with the heads of the police force.

Vision of the project

The top functionaries of the state police forces and heads of the CAPF cannot redress all the grievances on their own due to a large number of complaints. Moreover, the citizens need not come to the head of the department for their routine grievances. Such grievances should be redressed at the level they belong to or they originate at.

Hence, accountability at all levels of administration particularly the local levels is a must. This programme aims for a faster solution to complaints with the use of information and communication technology. The use of video conferences for a meeting of complainants and officers creates a sense of urgency to solve long pending grievances.

Under Swagat Project, attention is given to the quality of redressal at all levels. The police department is activated to solve public grievances at the state, district, and police station levels. The Swagat Plus's primary aim is to redress the grievances of public and police personnel in a practical, transparent and speedy manner at the highest level through direct interaction with senior officers and heads of police and CAPFs.

Features of the project

The Swagat Plus programme would be able to filter anonymous complaints. It would send the complaints received at the higher level such as to the SP level or the police station level for their comments. The project can verify all the complaints with identity proof of the complainant like Aadhar card and driving license. Significantly, Swagat Plus can be used for the grievances redressal of citizens as good governance and police personnel as a welfare measure. On the other hand, in CAPF, this project has limited usage for its personnel as a welfare measure only.

Implementation

Swagat Plus project is an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based project which requires basic IT infrastructure. Similar public grievances redressal solutions are working in States like Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kerala.