Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has received a total of 4,292 complaints from the city dwellers in the last six months through the mobile phone application “Shobar Dhaka.” 

It has resolved 3,951 (93%) issues so far.
On January 10 this year, DNCC launched the app so that citizens can easily get all the services that are provided by them.

Through this app, city dwellers can communicate with DNCC directly or report irregularities of the city corporation authorities by sending messages along with location and images under eight categories.

Till July 28, the DNCC has received 1,189 street lights issues, which comprise the highest number of complaints among all the categories. Among these, it has resolved 1,092 issues or 92% of all issues.

Besides, a total of 1,033 road-related issues have been reported through this app and it has handled 965 (94%) issues.

As many as 517 requests have come for solving mosquito problems and the solved rate is 90% (464).

Also, 533 requests came for evicting illegal structures and they solved 442 (84.92%) and a total of 244 came for repairing manholes in the city area and of them 230 (94.26%) have been addressed.

Besides, 630 requests came regarding garbage issues, and 176 came for waterlog issues and in these cases, 98% of the issues have been addressed which is the highest solved rate.

However, it has received 11 public toilet-related issues till now and solved seven and in this case, the solved rate is only 68% which is the lowest among all.

User Experience
Currently, a total of 16,401 people are using this “Shobar Dhaka” application.

On July 26, someone named Daniel Jewel wrote on Facebook that after noticing a hole in the road at night, he captured a picture, uploaded that on the app along with the location to inform DNCC.

Then, DNCC accepted his request overnight and only a day later started working on that issue. 

Jewel mentioned that he submitted a total of six complaints in three categories till now and got the solution in every case, emphasizing that this app really works.

"I complained about the waterlogging problem on June 4 at around 10am and their response was amazing. By the evening, the problem was solved. They have called me a total of five times regarding the issue. This experience was really amazing," Dipu, another user, said this and thanked DNCC.

Another user, Tahsina Naz Khan, has requested DNCC to add another feature to this app so that people can complain about noise pollution.

On the other hand, there are a few who claimed that they made a few complaints but not all of those have been solved yet.

The app is not very useful, complained Amanullah Rafi on Facebook. He claimed the app showed “Done” without resolving his issue.

A group of people is also saying that minor problems are quickly resolved by DNCC but major issues remain the same.

Many also alleged that this app does not work in a few areas like Azampur and Uttara.
Meanwhile, a lot of Facebook users appreciated it and demanded that DSCC should inaugurate something like DNCC's “Shobar Dhaka” application.

Arifur Rahman, a Jagannath University student, said: "Such an app should not be limited to North Dhaka only but spread in the whole of Dhaka."
What the authority says
DNCC received the highest number of complaints in February after the inauguration of this app. The total number was 852 and only 11 issues remained unresolved that month.

In January, it received only 279 complaints.
In comparison to February, the number of complaints and users did not increase much. The number of issues reported in March, April, May, June and July are 847, 383, 510, 755 and 711 respectively.

Md Tuhinul Islam, system analyst of DNCC, said: "We assume that almost 10 million people live in the DNCC area and in comparison to that, we have got a small number of users because we couldn't start campaigns to reach a larger population but we are planning to do that."

He also said that “Shobar Dhaka” is covering five zones right now which include Mohakhali, Uttara, Karwan Bazar and two zones of Mirpur. This app is going to cover five more zones like Uttarkhan, Dakkhinkhan and more.

"Everything is ready from the technical side but as the area of DNCC has increased and there is a lack of manpower there is a delay in starting services in those new zones," he added.

Tuhinul further said that minor problems have been resolved within 24 hours but major problems like eviction take time as there are legal issues here.

Other services in the app
Both IOS and Android users can use this application frequently.

DNCC dwellers can submit their complaints by capturing a photo with a real-time GPS location and they can write the details about the problem.

The app also has an option named “Solution Counter.” If anyone makes multiple complaints, she/he can see how many issues have been dealt with.

There is a special feature named "Emergency Alert." Every user can set up an emergency contact number when he or she opens an account on this app and if the person clicks on this option, a message along with the location will be sent to that contact person where it will be mentioned that the user needs help from him or her.

Besides, through this app, people will get emergency numbers of different government agencies like 333 (Government Information and Services), 100 (BTRC), 16120 (DESCO) and 13 others. It also has a separate section to call 999 for any kind of emergency.

This app has another section named "Dhaka Today" which will let residents get information about the day's events, like exhibitions, training and different social programs.

Apart from these, there is another feature in this app named “Nearby Services,” under which there are 12 sub-sections.

In this section, if anyone clicks on “Bus Stand,” that user would be able to see the location of nearby bus stands. This is also applicable for the rest of the 11 options, like hospitals or police stations.