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What
our future holds...
Training
and Workshops with the BMC
The
Citizens' Charter would be quite a meaningless exercise if all this
information were to be used by citizens and there was no cooperation
and response from the municipal staff who are actually working at
the point of consumer interface. Once we succeeded in getting the
top officials of the BMC aligned with our objectives, what was left
to be done was to get the support and commitment of the other staff
actually delivering the services outlined in the Charter.
These
workshops have accomplished this and a lot more. Through these workshops
the municipal staff are made aware of the Citizens' Charter concept
and the standard of performance outlined in the Charter that would
be expected of them. Their feedback is also taken on the content
of the Charter, which makes them feel they are part of this process.
This day-long workshop which we conduct for around 25 - 30 persons
at a time also facilitates a valuable bond between the staff and
the Praja members. To make this workshop meaningful to the staff
professionally and personally, we also include a component on human
resource development.
Online
Complaint Redressal System
Complaint
redressal is an important part of our initiative to improve the
functioning of public services in our city. We have therefore
used information technology as a tool to bring in efficiency and
effectiveness into the system. You can register your complaint online
and the MCGM will redress this complaint in the time stipulated
in the Citizens Charer. If it doesn’t we will follow up the complaint
with them. Fot his we will meet the BMC on a monthly basis to discuss
chronic problems and measures to improve the working of the Corporation
Launch
of The Citizen’s Charter for the Mumbai Police
Praja
has also initiated work on the Citizens’ Charter for the Police
of Mumbai. A former Director General of Police Mr. Julio Ribeiro
and Ex-Police Commissioner, Mr. Satish Sahni are providing the guidance
for this project. As this project will involve legal input, we have
invited a legal counsel to work with us. The first draft is expected
to be ready in the First Quarter of the year 2000.
Features
and Newspaper Columns
The
media is an important ally in our effort to highlight the achievements
and failures of our initiative. Praja has established excellent
relations with local newspapers and not only have several articles
been published but excerpts of the Charter have also been featured
in several newspapers. We expect that the continued support
of the media will help Praja to create a forum for discussion and
enable people to demand better and more efficient public services.
Networking
with like-minded organisations
We
realise that there are plenty of other organisations and individuals
that share our vision. We look forward to working with them to foster
mutuality encouraging dovetailing rather than duplication of activity.
In fact we are working with Action for Good Governance and Netwroing
in India (AGNI), Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA)etc.
We are also in the process of aligning with the Friedrich Naumann
Foundation, New Delhi; The Consumer Guidance Society of India, Mumbai
and the Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore.
Power
to the People - Increasing People's Participation
There
is an abundance of Resident Groups whereby residents sharing a locality
have come together to co-operate and maintain satisfactory living
conditions. A large part of their concern is the services of the municipality.
Thus we would work with these groups who would benefit from the information
contained in the Charter as well as lend them any other support they
might require in the course of their interaction with the municipality.
Moreover we would also encourage the formation of such groups in areas
where they are absent. These associations, we feel, can be largely
instrumental in combating the apathy of the service providers and
encouraging people's participation in the current system of governance.
Pressure
Group
Though
the municipality has developed a clear line of complaint redress,
there are still situations when certain civic problems would not
be effectively dealt with. Therefore, it is essential that an alternative
line of redress be developed. Therefore, we have evolved a system
of redress whereby chronic problems are referred to PRAJA and once
in two months a group of prominent citizens made up of retired Municipal
Commissioners of the BMC, (viz., Mr. B.G.Deshmukh, Mr. Jamsheed
Kanga and Mr. Sukthankar) and professionals like Mr. Gerson da Cunha,
etc. would meet with the Additional Municipal Commissioners, the
Municipal Commissioner and the Mayor regarding these complaints.
Bi
annual Surveys and Opinion Polls
This
is in continuation with our Project Performance. In order to keep
the pressure on the BMC to improve the quality of their services,
surveys will be conducted biannually and the citizens verdict sought
in an attempt to provide the BMC with constant feedback about their
performance.
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