Ministry Enhances Hotline 1151 for Effective Grievance Resolution

Kathmandu. With the objective of not only receiving but also resolving complaints, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has made the hotline number 1151 more effective.

The ministry has stated that it has recently started a new practice in service delivery and made it more effective. After Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha took office, the ministry and its subordinate bodies have become more active with the priority given to the style of 'listening to complaints and addressing them immediately'.

Following the minister's instructions, the 'hotline number' 1151 for electricity service has been made more effective. The ministry has stated that this hotline, which operates 24 hours a day, is no longer just a medium for registering complaints, but has been developed as a direct mechanism for problem-solving.

The system of coordinating with the concerned bodies immediately to resolve complaints received from service recipients through 'phone', 'WhatsApp', 'email' to 'Hello Sarkar' has been made result-oriented.

Minister Shrestha's secretariat has advanced this in a more responsible and accountable manner than regular administrative processes. Minister Shrestha's chief personal secretary Sanjeev Maharjan and personal secretary Raja Shakya themselves have been engaged in coordinating with the concerned bodies to address public interest issues.

The secretariat has started the practice of not only forwarding complaints received at the ministry to the concerned bodies but also ensuring their resolution.

According to the ministry, more than 10,392 complaints have been received through the hotline and other means since March 29. From March 29 to April 12, 4,248 complaints were received via phone, 14 via WhatsApp, two via email, and five via Hello Sarkar. In the entire month of April, 6,026 complaints were registered via phone, 92 via WhatsApp, and 10 via email.

In addition, the secretariat has stated that it has been monitoring and advancing the resolution process for more than 200 written applications and public interest issues published in the media.

Most of the complaints received are related to electricity services. In particular, issues such as electrical accidents, power outages, transformer failures, low voltage, sagging power transmission and distribution lines, falling electricity towers and poles, need for pole relocation, fires on wires, non-receipt of meters, non-receipt of poles, meter reading problems, EV charging problems, irrigation problems, and delays in various service deliveries were prominently raised.

In some incidents, the ministry's direct intervention has been evident. In the incident where the power supply to Karnali Province was disrupted due to two towers collapsing on the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 KV transmission line in the Chisapani area of Banke, the ministry immediately coordinated to prioritize service reconstruction and also initiated an investigation.

Similarly, the electricity service disrupted in the Waliling and Bhirkot municipalities of Syangja due to damage to a transformer caused by lightning was restored after approximately 65 hours.

The issue of relocating poles that have stood in the middle of the road for years in the Swayambhu area of Kathmandu was also among the public grievances that reached the ministry. The secretariat has stated that this has been resolved through coordination between the local level, the Nepal Electricity Authority, and the concerned bodies.

This style adopted by the Ministry of Energy recently has made an effort to provide the feeling of 'a government that listens'. Unlike the practice of waiting for months after registering a complaint, the practice of immediate feedback and direct monitoring is expected to improve public service delivery and increase trust among service recipients.