By Namita Devidayal

Times of  India, Mumbai, September 12, 1999

With polling over, most politicians are getting ready to sit back, put their feet up and blithely forget the promises they made.  But Mumbai's citizen-activists have different plans for them.

Praja, a group of spiritied young professionals committed to the cause of public accountability, has decided to publish biannual 'report cards' rating each elected representative's performance.  Another recently formed citizens' group, Agni, which represents almost 100 community and civic associations, is planning to keep MLAs and MPs on their toes through constituencywise committees which will monitor the projects undertaken by them.

"We are going to assess their performance scientifically and make these report cards pubic through press conferences and hoardings," says Nitai Mehta of Praja.  The group has tied up with well-known market research company ORG-MARG to draft an exhaustive questionnaire asking Mumbai residents to rate different aspects of public governance.

The questions are largely related to civic issues, such as the timeliness of garbage collection, inter-departmental coordination on digging roads and footpaths, or even something as basic as the manner in which an official deals with a citizen's problem.  "Yes, these are more BMC-related, but all these issues will eventually reflect on the local corporator, MLA and even MP, for that matter," says Mr Mehta, whose keen public awareness can perhaps be related to his antecedents.  He is the son of the late Madhu Mehta, social activist and founder of the Hindustani Andolan.

Titoo Ahluwalia, chief of ORG-MARG, says, "This is not just about rapping the knuckles of those who are not performing, but also publicly rewarding those who are quietly doing their job, against all odds."

Adds Mr Mehta," Armed with this sort of information, we can tell officials where they are going wrong."  Incidentally, the idea was picked up from a similar project conducted in Bangalore by the Public Affairs Centre, an NGO. "Why don't we have any say on where public money is being spent? What are the rules? Why are certain policies not being implemented?" asked Mr Mehta.

Meanwhile, similar questions will be raised by Agni, which seeks Action for Good Governance and Networking in India.  The broad-based group has just concluded 21 'Meet your candidate' forums across the city and now, post-polls, is working towards a 'Meet your elected representative' forum along the same lines.  The candidates (both wineers and losers) have already been invited to these follow-up meetings, which will be organised by residents from that constituency.

Unmindful of its cynical critics - "Of course, we are going to make mistakes, this is a long-term process," coutners one member - Agni will keep tapping into its wide network,which spans from Colaba to Kandivli.

"We want people fo each constituency to sit down and formulate their charter of demands and to remind their leaders of the promises they made in the meet-your-candidate meetings," says Agni activist Joe Lobo, adding that many sessions were tape recorded.  "This is what democracy and governance is all about," he says, emphatically.

Indeed, this Wadala-based businessperson's views reflect a growing change among Mumbai's otherwsie apathetic middle class who members have decided to come out of tehri housing colonies and take responsibility for their city.  Earlier this year, Praja had published a 'Citizens' Charter' in partnership with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).  The charter is a user friendly manual which demystifies the BMC and carries information on its various departments and public utility services as well as a how-to guide to lodging a complaint.  

"We're going to set up a time-table to decide where and when we can meet the elected representative.  These meetings will have to be organised systematically, with minutes and agendas, in two or three different languages," says Gerson da Cunha, a retired ad executive and active Agni member.  "It's going to be a headache, but it has to be done."