Partial Minutes of the meeting between representatives of ALM’s & AGNI with BMC ADDL. Commissioner Mr. Subrat Ratho on Saturday March 11, 2006 at 10.30 a.m. at the BMC Headquarters organised by NGO Council.

written by Anil Desai

The meeting was coordinated by Karmayog, an organization providing internet based networking platform for NGO groups, & Convenor of NGO Council.

After initial discussions moderated by Mr. Ratho it was agreed to discuss steps to be taken for:

1.      Strengthening the existing systems of citizen-BMC partnership, such as LACC.

2.      Means of encouraging citizen’s involvement in areas where no ALM/LACC currently exist.

Mr. Gerson Da’Cunha (of AGNI) pointed out that strengthening the working of groups that exist will itself lead to formation of new groups due to the demonstration effect, however for the sake of presentation the suggestions received & deliberated are presented under the headings mentioned above:

Strengthening the functioning of existing Local Groups (LACC & ALM)

a)      The attendance by BMC staff at the LACC meetings was irregular & all departments did not attend these meetings as they ought to.

b)      No punitive action is taken for inaction by BMC officials as a result there is no advance from one LACC meeting to another due to inaction by BMC officials on matters brought up by citizens.

 Action agreed upon : Mr. Ratho asked the LACC representatives from K-West ward to suggest a report which will help to track attendance as well as effective action from BMC officials build a case for taking punitive action or reward mechanism. Mr. Anil Desai, Mr. Adolf D’Souza and Mr. Anand Desai agreed to work on this together with ward officer Mr. Dhamne (K-W) and suggest to Mr. Ratho a mechanism for this.

c)      The BMC officials cut short these meetings as other meetings timings clashed with the LACC/ALM meetings timings.

 Action agreed upon : Mr. Ratho has offered to write to ward officers in this regard and also for point no (e).

d)      Business needs to be involved in the process. Mr. Da’Cunha urged that we go to business entities & Chambers of commerce with specific proposals & we will receive support from them.  

e)      Some members pointed out instances where BMC officials were stopping the ordinary residents from attending LACC meetings under the pretext that only NGO’s were allowed to attend such meets.

f)        Other Agencies like the Police, Trafic Police, MMRDA etc be involved in order to resolve issues holistically.

Action agreed upon :  Mr. Ratho agreed to write to the police and set up a meeting with them to work out modalities of their regular involvement in LACC meetings.

g)      It was suggested that the minutes of the Ward committee minutes be made available to LACC’s

h)      All work orders coming out of BMC be read out in the LACC meetings.

Action agreed upon :  Mr. Ratho agreed that this would not be a problem. Additionally he stated that all work order copies can be made available at the ward office, from where citizens can procure them.

i)        If utilities are to carry out any digging work the LACC’s be informed in advance

Action agreed upon :  Mr. Ratho said that the BMC can do this as they are the ones giving permission for such work to these utilities.

Encouraging the formation of LACC’s in areas where they do not exist

a)      Involve Ganeshotsav & other such mandals into LACC work

b)      BMC to write to every society explaining the concept of LACC & giving out the time & place at which LACC meetings are held in each area.

c)      Mr. Da’Cunha pointed out the need for a planned communication strategy in order to spread awareness and get greater citizens partnership. He committed to working on this together with the BMC.

d)      The issue of formation & registration were discussed. Mr. Anand Desai explained that being a voluntary initiative people were hesitant to come forward hence if onerous processes were imposed the initiative would not take off. Infact some incentives are required to be given to encourage formation & active participation by local groups in upkeep of their area. Mr. Anil Desai narrated the demands for large bribes faced by them when they approached the Registrar of Societies for registration of their group.

SUMMATION

It was concluded after inputs also from Mr. Gerson Da’Cunha (AGNI) that:

1. Existing systems (LACC) once strengthened (as discussed above) would become models which would encourage greater citizens participation in citizen-BMC partnerships
2. Any new systemic changes need to be looked at holistically by first studying the existing lacunae, which can be done through a broader debate with all stake holders (esp. the ALM/citizen’s groups, active BMC ward officers, etc.)
3. Communication (well planned) would play an important role in encouraging greater citizen’s involvement