Karnataka Launches Praja Seva Department For Public Grievance Redressal

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has announced the launch of a new Praja Seva Department aimed at addressing public grievances and strengthening direct communication between citizens and the state administration. The new department will form a key part of the government’s governance agenda, with a focus on improving service delivery and ensuring that complaints raised by people receive timely attention through a dedicated institutional mechanism.

Announcing the initiative, Shivakumar said the Praja Seva Department would look into public grievances across the state and work to strengthen the relationship between citizens and the administration. The department is expected to function as a central grievance redressal body dealing with complaints related to civic amenities, welfare schemes, revenue matters and various public services. It will be headed by a dedicated minister and supported by senior bureaucrats to ensure greater coordination among government departments.

Under the proposed system, district ministers are expected to regularly hold review meetings with citizens and elected representatives to examine unresolved complaints and assess the progress of grievance redressal. The government plans to introduce technology-enabled dashboards to track complaints from the time they are registered until they are resolved. Officials will also use the system to monitor the performance of departments responsible for handling public grievances and identify cases facing unnecessary delays.

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Citizens in Karnataka have long raised complaints related to pensions, road construction and repairs, electricity connections, corrections in land records and access to other essential public services. While the state already has grievance redressal platforms, existing systems have faced criticism over inadequate follow-up and a lack of clear accountability. The Praja Seva Department is intended to address these gaps by improving monitoring and ensuring that complaints remain under review until appropriate action is taken.

The new initiative will build on Karnataka’s existing Integrated Public Grievance Redressal System while giving the process greater administrative and political oversight. Government officials said the department would regularly collect feedback from citizens and study complaint-resolution patterns to identify recurring and systemic problems. The findings could then be used to improve government processes and address issues that repeatedly affect people across different districts and departments.

The government hopes the Praja Seva Department will improve public trust by placing accountability and citizen-focused service delivery at the centre of administration. The initiative is also intended to create a grievance redressal mechanism that can continue functioning beyond the tenure of the current government and contribute to long-term improvements in public services. Detailed guidelines explaining the structure, responsibilities and functioning of the new department are expected to be issued shortly.

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