‘Can you help me marry my girlfriend, Modi ji?’

A city based mechanical engineering student has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help him get married to his girlfriend, who works as a nurse. He has requested the Prime Minster to send a volunteer to Chandigarh to convince parents on both sides to agree to the marriage.

No, this isn`t a silly joke. It is just one of many such frivolous requests from Chandigarh that are sent to the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO) through the centralized public grievance redress and monitoring system every day.

In fact, officials manning the grievance system in Chandigarh say nearly 60% of the complaints and requests are frivolous and often bring a smile on their faces. For instance, one resident wrote to the PMO to provide a helicopter to the Chandigarh police so that the officials can reach a crime spot in time. This despite the city having a geographical spread of just 114 sq km and a population of a little over 10 lakh.

Another resident complained that somebody was plucking flowers in his garden without his permission and nobody was taking necessary action.

The Chandigarh administration receives around 400 grievances through the PMO`s grievance system every month. Officials say many of them are personal in nature.

Complaints in the centralized grievance system go directly to the PMO where they are sorted by city and sent to the various authorities in each city to take action.

Source: Times of India