The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) on January 13, 2025, issued the Standard Protocol (SOP) for Complaint Redressal over Social Media.
The Standard Protocol (SoP) for Complaint Redressal developed by CAQM establishes a systematic process for addressing air pollution-related complaints in NCR as received on social media.
This Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) aims to ensure quick and effective resolution of complaints related to air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) received via social media. It highlights the need for coordination between concerned agencies, encourages informing complainants about available grievance platforms, and addresses the issue of communication gaps by setting up a dedicated WhatsApp group for real-time monitoring. Agencies are mandated to follow this SoP to streamline the complaint redressal process and ensure accountability.
The steps involved in the protocol are as under:
• The process begins when a citizen of NCR lodges a complaint on social media ('X') tagging either the concerned Pollution Control Board/ other agencies in NCR or CPCB or CAQM. Further, CPCB upon receiving the complaint, assigns a unique complaint ID and tags the CAQM for information. The complaint is then directed to the concerned Implementing Agency of NCR or relevant State Pollution Control Boards (PCBs)/other agencies, initiating appropriate action.
• To ensure effective resolution, CAQM closely monitors the process through daily reports as received from CPCB and actively reviews pending cases with NCR State Agencies. It also identifies roadblocks and facilitates necessary actions to ensure expeditious resolution.
• After the complaint redressal, the Implementing Agency may mark it as Completed, providing an Action Taken Report (ATR) with supporting documents or photographs, while tagging back to CPCB and CAQM, whereas for Long-Term Tasks requiring time, timeline for compliance is to be provided by the concerned Implementing Agency along with reason/ other details, while tagging back to CPCB & CAQM. In cases where the complaint Does not pertain to the Agency, the concerned Implementing Agency shall tag back the complaint to CPCB with details of the responsible/ concerned agency.
• CPCB shall close the complaint based on the details provided by the Implementing Agency or tag it back to Implementing Agency for more details or further action.
• In case, the complainant/citizen is not satisfied with the response/action taken leading to another complaint by him/her on the same issue, a fresh complaint ID with suffix/prefix to the previous ID shall be provided to the complaint by CРСВ.
[File No.-16015/05/2022/CAQM-Social Media - 118DK]
