Editorial
DCC's help desk
A good step at last
It's a good thing that the public service providers that run on public money are now feeling disposed to taking a hands-on approach to service delivery. The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) must be cheered for introducing help desks to improve the quality and speed of their service to the public. It is nothing very novel but for us quite a breath of fresh air.
One must commend the mayor for admitting that the quality of service provided by the city corporation has not been quite up to the mark. Actually, when a system shows signs of a breakdown that one needs some special steps to resuscitate it.
One hopes that the days of the common man finding himself lost in the corridors of the city corporation office, often taken for a ride by its self-serving officials will come to an end. And one also hopes that the mayor's assurance of attending to public complaints and solving their problems within seventy-two hours will be more than mere words for public consumption.
It is just not enough though to come up with a new idea, the proposed arrangement must also be allowed to function efficiently if it is to fulfill the purpose for which it was conceived in the first place. The quality of manpower of the corporation is one thing that needs to be addressed to start with.
We must also commend the idea of formulating and publishing a citizens' charter to make the people aware of the services that they can obtain from the DCC.
These are all very well and good, but we would like to remind the DCC, at the risk of being repetitious, that it is a service provider whose service deals with the day to day existence and touches the lives of all the city dwellers. Necessary manpower and resources must be obtained to infuse fresh life into DCC. All forms of corruption and malpractice should be checkmated.
The DCC must also remember that one of its prime responsibilities includes matters of public health and wellbeing. In this regard it should invigorate its oversight on food shops and restaurants as well as ensure conservancy services without which public health would be exposed to grave hazards.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments