Stories of how a tweet to authorities can bring about instant change

The system is far from perfect, but it is better than impotent groaning and moaning.

BHPian Mustang Sammy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After complaining and listening to others complain about how bad our cities are, how no one follows traffic rules, and how infrastructure is allowed to break down without response, one day I had enough.

A traffic light in my Mumbai locality had not been working for 2 weeks, and it was a free-for-all at that junction. All I did was tweet about it with a pic of the locality, tagging the Mumbai police. To my utter surprise, they tweeted a response within an hour that the local traffic police had been asked to look into it. The signal was fixed within 3 days.

As we know, the existence of a traffic signal does not mean people will actually follow it. Sure enough, people still drive past the red light, 2, 3, 4 and more-wheeled alike. Another tweet followed, again responded to within a couple of hours, and lo and behold a traffic warden was standing there this evening.

Another traffic signal in Pune Cantonment has not been working properly (incorrectly programmed) for the past 2+ years!! People just drive past it like it doesn't exist. Another tweet, this time to the Pune Municipal Corporation, and an online complaint filed on the Cantonment board website, which is a textbook example of how NOT to design online forms by the way.

The Cantonment authorities assigned, reassigned, and then again reassigned the complaint, helpfully updating me via SMS. It was finally resolved and closed in 1 week.

Upon driving past that area, hoping to see the signal working properly, I was shocked (or maybe not, it is Pune after all) to see nothing had changed.

Logging onto the Cantonment portal, it was observed that the complaint had been closed with the helpful message "This will be resolved as part of the smart city project in some time".

After an hour of deep breathing and mindfulness meditation, I re-filed the complaint and tweeted a screenshot of the offending message that caused my BP to shoot up 100 points, hoping to shame the authorities into acting. This seems to have worked, as the complaint is now closed with a message that the traffic light has been reprogrammed. This time, it was indeed fixed.

The system is far from perfect, but if we work within it and escalate these kinds of civic issues, we CAN make a difference. At any rate, it is better than impotent groaning and moaning.

How have the experiences of others on this forum been in this regard?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Have first-hand seen results from PGPortal & Twitter.

We live right on the beach and the lane ends on the beach side. Every night, people come down there to party. Cars, couples, noise, fights, booze and sometimes, drugs. It's been a perpetual problem for ages. Recently, a neighbour started tweeting about the problem and tagging the Mumbai Police.

What do you know?! For 4 - 5 months now, a police van arrives at 10 pm dot & tells the revellers to scoot! By 1015, the lane is now deserted.

Here's what BHPian racer_sk had to say on the matter:

It is shocking (in a happy way) to see authorities starting to respond. We have already heard about examples from Railways where they also resolve many complaints on time.

I would also appreciate the Upgrades done to Indian Passport Department. In many cases, we have seen that it has become a seamless process to apply for a new passport or get your passport renewed provided you have the correct documents in place.

Here's what BHPian Dodge_Viper had to say on the matter:

I was using the grievances portal to highlight issues, especially with the Pune-Satara highway. Always got a response with a proper explanation. The latest was in October last year when Khandala Ghat developed massive and dangerous potholes. Raised a grievance on the 27th and got a response on the 29th mentioning the fix is already in progress. They even sent a pdf file having photos of the work going on.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.