'MADAD'- Railway's dedicated app for lodging complaints coming soon

New Delhi: Move over Twitter, Facebook, helplines and complaint registers if you are looking to lodge your grievances with the Railways. The national transporter is going to launch a dedicated mobile application -- rather appropriately named 'MADAD' (Mobile Application for Desired Assistance During travel) -- later this month to enable its passengers to lodge complaints, be it over food quality or dirty toilets. They can also request emergency services through the app.

The complaint lodged through the app will directly reach the relevant officials of the divisions concerned and the action is taken can be relayed online, thus fast-tracking the entire process of registration and redressal of grievances. Passengers will also be able to track the status of their complaints and be notified about any action taken in the case.

The proposed app would integrate all passenger grievance and redressal mechanisms in the railways. "As of now, we have 14 channels through which passengers can register their grievances. Each has its own response time and even standards of response. While some are active, others are not. We wanted to have one transparent, standardised grievance redressal process. This app is likely to be launched this month," a senior official said.

Passengers can register their grievances simply by keying in their PNRs and they will receive a complaint ID through SMS at the time of registration. This will be followed by personalised SMS regarding the action taken by the department concerned. The app would also display total monthly complaints received and resolved by the Indian Railways and show the ranking of top five and bottom five railway stations and Rajdhani, Shatabdi trains of each zone in terms of faster complaint resolutions to encourage transparency and accountability, the official said.

"The introduction of this system does not mean that we will not respond to complaints on the other forums. But eventually, we want to use this one integrated system. This will also represent a holistic picture of weak, deficient areas and will enable focused corrective action by officials concerned," the official said.