India's public grievance backlog swells despite record complaint disposal

New Delhi: Pending public grievances with states and Union territories on the Centre's Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) climbed to 216,032 at the end of June, about 26% higher than in December 2025, underscoring how rising citizen use of the portal is outpacing governments' ability to clear cases despite record monthly disposals.

According to the latest monthly report released on Wednesday by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), states and UTs received 96,190 public grievances in June, the highest monthly inflow so far this year, and disposed of 93,170 grievances, also the highest monthly disposal in 2026. Even so, new complaints continued to exceed disposals, pushing overall pendency higher.

The backlog has risen steadily through the year, with pending grievances increasing from 178,674 in January to 192,877 in February, 201,088 in March, 211,701 in April, 213,190 in May and 216,032 in June.

During the first six months of 2026, states and UTs received 500,345 grievances and disposed of 455,957, while carrying forward 171,644 pending cases from the year-ago period.

CPGRAMS is the Centre's online public grievance portal through which citizens can lodge complaints about deficiencies in public services, delays or misconduct by central ministries, departments, state governments and UTs. It is distinct from the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which handles consumer disputes related to goods and services purchased by consumers.

Wide gap

Twenty-three states and Union territories had more than 1,000 pending grievances at the end of June. Maharashtra reported the highest pendency with 29,247 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (28,816), Bihar (13,659), Haryana (12,948), Madhya Pradesh (11,851) and Tamil Nadu (10,499).

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of grievances received during June at 32,559, followed by Gujarat (6,713), Haryana (5,881), Maharashtra (5,770) and Delhi (5,462). It also disposed of the most grievances during the month, clearing 31,460 cases, ahead of Maharashtra (7,619) and Haryana (7,183).

The report also highlighted wide differences in disposal efficiency across states. Telangana recorded the lowest average grievance disposal time at six days during the January-June 2026 period, followed by Chandigarh (14 days), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (18 days), Rajasthan (23 days), Tripura (23 days), Gujarat (25 days) and Uttar Pradesh (25 days).

Bihar, for instance, disposed of 5,128 grievances in June, more than the 4,255 new complaints it received during the month. Even so, it ended June with a backlog of 13,659 cases, including 10,698 pending for more than 21 days.

The report said the CPGRAMS feedback call centre collected 75,318 citizen feedback responses in June, including 33,092 relating to states and UTs. Of these, 14,979 grievances were marked as resolved through the feedback process, with 70% of citizens expressing satisfaction with the resolution provided.

CPGRAMS also continued to expand its reach. During June, 83,544 new users registered on the platform, while 6,262 grievances were filed through Common Service Centres (CSCs). Uttar Pradesh accounted for 28% of all grievances registered through the CSC network.

Experts said the rise in grievances reflects growing citizen adoption of digital grievance platforms, but also highlights that grievance-handling capacity has not kept pace with the increase in complaints.

“The focus now should be on reducing pendency while maintaining the quality of resolutions," said Ashim Sanyal, managing trustee of Consumer VOICE.