Complaints regarding civic amenities and water supply increased substantially from 2015 to 2016, even as the number of such issues raised by councillors and MLAs failed to keep up, said a new report released here on Thursday.
RTI replies analysed
Using data from Right to Information (RTI) replies, the municipal corporations and the Delhi Assembly, the report by Praja Foundation analysed the complaints as well as discussion by councillors and MLAs during 2015 and 2016.
According to the findings of this report, the number of complaints about civic issues increased by 27%, while complaints about water supply and pollution went up by 51% and 52% respectively from 2015 to 2016.
However, in the same period, the number of issues pertaining to pollution raised by MLAs in the Assembly went down from 24 in 2015 to eight in 2016.
The analysis also found that 10 MLAs and 31 councillors did not raise even one civic issue in 2016.
“Data such as this indicates why elected representatives must constantly pay heed to citizens’ voice. The massive problems that Delhi faces, like pollution, did not arise overnight,” said Nitai Mehta, founder and managing trustee of Praja Foundation.
The report also examined how seriously political parties took their manifestos after coming to power. As per the report, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emphasised improving water supply in its manifesto. As many as 23 and 30 issues about water were raised by the party’s MLAs in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
MLA attendance down
In addition, the report also found that the attendance of MLAs at Assembly sessions went down from 93% in 2015 to 88% in 2016.
However, the data refers to 56 MLAs in 2015 and 62 in 2016.
The attendance of councillors at ward committee meetings, though lower than the attendance of MLAs in Assembly, remained the same in 2015 and 2016 at 61%. Narela zone of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation had the lowest attendance at 49% in 2016.
