Telecom, postal complaints could be put on Twitter

Consumers and businesses can tweet to communications minister Manoj Sinha (@manojsinhabjp) using #DOTSeva, #BSNLSeva, #MTNLSeva, and #PostalSeva

Consumers of telecom and postal services will now be able to lodge complaints on social networking site Twitter.

Communications minister Manoj Sinha launched Twitter Sewa, through which the ministry will provide real-time grievance redressal. The customised e-governance delivery service by Twitter India is already in use in the commerce, foreign, and railways ministries.

Sinha said complaints on Twitter Sewa would be available to officials and would be categorised as immediate, mid term, and long term. Departments will be able to respond in real time, and assign complaints to relevant officers and track them.

"Complaints against any telecom operator and the department of post on my Twitter handle will be communicated immediately," Sinha said. Consumers and businesses can tweet to Sinha (@manojsinhabjp) using #DOTSeva, #BSNLSeva, #MTNLSeva, and #PostalSeva, to reach the respective departments for service queries, real-time updates, and requests for assistance.

Sinha said the service was in line with prime minister Narendra Modi's vision of "minimum government, maximum governance".

"I hope the government and telecom service providers make use of this tool to serve the customer," he added.

Raheel Khursheed, Twitter India's head for news, politics, and government, said to register a complaint a consumer would only need to tweet and the platform would pick keywords to forward it to the authorities concerned.

He said the Twitter Sewa platform was free for government departments and the company expected to gain subscribers in the country from this.