A report released by the Praja Foundation on Thursday said it took the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) an average of 48 days to resolve a civic complaint in 2017 as compared with 19 in 2016. The number of complaints also rose from 81,555 in 2016 to 92,329 in 2017.
The report titled ‘Civic issues registered by citizens and deliberations done by municipal councillors’, pointed out that complaints related to garbage and drainage had increased in the past year, while complaints related to roads had decreased.
An NGO, Praja Foundation studies civic issues, assesses the performance of corporators and highlights aspects of municipal administration that need change based on BMC data secured through RTI pleas. Nitai Mehta, managing trustee of the foundation, said, “If a citizen complains about a dangerous tree or a broken drain in his neighbourhood, will he have to wait for a month to have it resolved? This is BMC’s own data. They need to provide basic facilities to citizens.”
The report said that wards in areas such as Colaba, Borivali and Bhandup had fared the worst in terms of responding to complaints, while Byculla, Matunga and Kurla took less days to resolve a complaint. The highest complaints at 19,267 were related to buildings followed by drainage at 15,940. Both types of complaints rose by 3,000 from 2016. The third-highest number of complaints at 11,606 was related to roads. However, the complaints were less than last year’s 13,475.
Milind Mhaske, project director at the foundation, said, “It must be noted that although the average days taken to resolve complaints rose, the BMC resolved 83% complaints received in 2017 compared with 58% in 2016.”
The foundation also analysed the number of questions asked by corporators in ward councils between March and December 2017 following the civic polls. The report found that 38 corporators had not asked a single question during this period.
Mr. Mehta said, “In fact, a BJP corporator, Kesharben Patel, neither asked a single question in her previous term and asked only one question in this term. Smaller parties have also asked fewer questions but their strength is also less. The Sena-BJP corporators have more or less the same average.” Mr. Mehta was referring to the fact that 47 Sena corporators had asked up to five questions in 2017, while the number for the BJP was 55. The report also highlighted that there was 84% disparity in the number of public toilets for men and women in the city. C ward, consisting of Marine Lines, Charni road areas, had a disparity of 85%.
In the backdrop of the city being declared open defecation free, the report found that for every three toilet seats, two are for men and only one is for women. There are only 163 pay-and-use toilets for the differently-abled in the city.
‘Open dashboard’
The foundation suggested that the BMC add an open dashboard on its website so that it can regularly upload such information. The foundation said the feature would allow the administration and the elected representatives to oversee the BMC’s performance on real-time basis. The foundation also suggested that the BMC to be more interactive and accessible to citizens and receptive to their feedback.
