Shiv Sena assures Potholes Free Mumbai BMC receives 17,908 complaints of Potholes in last Five years

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Shiv Sena assures Potholes Free Mumbai BMC receives 17,908 complaints of Potholes in last Five years
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Hello Mumbai City Desk News

Complied By Riddhi Patil

Shiv Sena had promised pothole free Mumbai with new technology and material, however, in F.Y. 2017-18 to 2020-21, 17,908 complaints were related to potholes.BJP had promised 24/7 water supply, however, 204 out of 290 zones received only up to 4 hours of water supply in 2020. Despite BJP, NCP and INC promising a policy for hawkers and special zones for hawkers & other street vendors, 34,129 hawker related complaints were registered from F.Y. 2017-18 to 2020-21.Efforts must be made to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and other government targets and manifestos should be made keeping these goals and targets in mind  The Mayor should be empowered and their term should be made co-terminus with the term of the City Government.
The City Government should be the nodal agency for delivery of all the 18 functions mentioned in the 12th schedule of the Constitution and functions of local importance.
Citizen Participation Forum, a platform that allows citizens to express their needs and wants, should be created to ensure citizen centric approach to planning for service delivery.
Mumbai, November 2021: Praja Foundation launched its report on “Mumbai’s Party-Wise Manifesto (2017-22) Analysis & Targets to Set for 2022-2027” on Thursday, November 18, 2021. The report analyses the promises made by political parties in their manifestos, comparing them with the questions asked by them on the same issues in the last five years. It also analyses various civic complaints registered by citizens and compares them to questions asked by the Elected Representatives.

Cities are driving forces for economic growth. Citizens migrate to cities with the desire to improve their livelihood and in turn their standard of living. However, to do so, cities must function efficiently in providing services to its citizens. Their civic wants and needs, such as adequate water supply, adequate and affordable housing, cleanliness, appropriate roads and pavements, dedicated bus routes, drains covered and maintained, affordable quality of  public education and healthcare etc. need to be addressed by the local government, that is, municipal corporations and councils.

“The political parties, before elections, develop their own manifestos which outlines the objectives of the party candidates for the upcoming councillors’ term, based on which citizens elect their representatives.
The manifesto, among other things, includes action plans and promises to provide civic wants and needs as well as solve various service delivery related issues that citizens face on a regular basis.”, stated Nitai Mehta, Trustee, Praja Foundation.

With Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) elections around the corner, political parties and their candidates will soon declare their commitments for the coming tenure. Praja has, thus, come up with an analysis of manifesto promises of major political parties (Shiv Sena, BJP, INC and NCP) and compared them with deliberations, specific manifesto points and citizens’ complaints related to those manifesto points. Based on this analysis, Praja is also sharing recommendations of targets to be set for upcoming MCGM elections and providing a goal so that elected councillors can work towards achieving the same.
Additionally, global and international targets have been recommended so that political parties can include them in the new manifesto. This is aimed towards bettering the quality of the upcoming manifestos and therefore, in the long run, improving deliberations and thus the quality of life of  citizens.

The report while tracking the complaints and deliberations, discovered that some of the highest areas of complaints have not been successfully deliberated upon. For example, the highest complaints registered was 75,915 for sewerage and drainage issues from F.Y. 2017-18 to F.Y. 2020-21. In spite of that, only 4% (136 out of 3,510) of total deliberations were on drainage. Some of the major political parties, in their last manifesto, promised improvement in Solid Waste Management (SWM) and better collection of garbage.
However, 54,029 SWM complaints were registered, of which 40% were for garbage not collected. Only 8% (287) of total questions were asked on the same by the major political parties.

“The report also highlights the need for councillors to refer to the promises made in the manifesto before the elections, while deliberating during their term. Despite promises being made to solve issues related to potholes, water supply, hawkers and so on, deliberations on them have not been adequate. The overall proportion of questions asked by major political parties on issues related to potholes was only 2%. As another example, the percentage of questions asked by major political parties for on water supply stood at only 7% of total questions from F.Y. 2017-18 to F.Y. 2020-21. Similarly, only 4% of total questions were
raised by major political parties despite BJP, NCP and INC promising a policy for hawkers and special zones for hawkers & other street vendors.”, said Milind Mhaske, Director, Praja Foundation.

“The disparity of complaints and questions asked by councillors go on to reaffirm the importance of deliberation of citizen specific issues. It is also important to look at the SDG goals and other global and national targets for various issues, and work towards achieving them. These are important targets to achieve as these directly correspond to the quality of life of citizens and MCGM needs to focus on the same. Political parties should study these targets and ensure that the manifestos align to achieving these targets by creating programmes around the same.”, added Mhaske.

“Better citizen centric service delivery, promoting citizen participation with effective feedback/suggestion mechanisms to track the needs and wants of the citizens, devolution of the 18 functions under the 74 th  Constitutional Amendment Act, empowering elected representatives – especially the Mayor, creating a single planning authority, increasing human resources and so on, will also allow for improvement in service delivery. Political parties, along with the administration must identify, understand and implement
achievable targets in their manifesto with reference to global and national targets. With a new and strong governance system in place, Mumbai truly can be a well governed world class city.”, concluded Mehta.

About PRAJA Foundation:

Over the last two decades Praja has been working towards enabling accountable governance. We conduct data driven research on civic issues and inform key stakeholders such as Elected Representatives (ER), citizens, media, and government administration and work with ERs to equip them to address inefficiencies in their work processes, bridging the information gaps, and mobilising them in taking corrective measures while advocating for change. PRAJA's goals are simplifying people's lives, empowering the citizens and
government with facts and creating instruments of change to improve the quality of life of people in India.
PRAJA is committed to creating an accountable and efficient society through people's participation.

News Input And Research By Praja Foundation 

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