Kathmandu, Feb. 4 -- It's 9:30 in the morning. A room in a newly built prefabricated building in Singha Durbar is reverberating with constant ringing of the phones.

"Hello, welcome to Hello Sarkar. How can I help you?" says Hema Adhikari, as she picks up one of the phones. But the caller hangs up. There is another phone ringing. Adhikari takes the call. "Please don't ask me personal questions. This is a public platform to lodge complaints related to government agencies," she responds before hanging up.

Adhikari, 40, is one of the 17 officials working at Hello Sarkar, a government initiative tasked with listening to public complaints and grievances and transferring them to concerned ministries and government agencies. It was established ...