A session on the Maharashtra Right to Services Act (RTS) was held by Mumbai First, under its knowledge and civic awareness initiative called ‘Mumbai Happenings’.
Manu Kumar Srivastava IAS (Retd). Pic/Ashish Raje
It was Wednesday afternoon, and nearly full at the MMRDA auditorium in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). A session on the Maharashtra Right to Services Act (RTS) was held by Mumbai First, under its knowledge and civic awareness initiative called ‘Mumbai Happenings’.
The session was about empowering citizens with knowledge of their rights under the RTS Act and give them access to timely government services. The online address is https://aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in/en/CommonForm/ViewAllServices.
The troika of panellists at the event were: Manu Kumar Srivastava, Baldev Singh and Dilip Shinde, all IAS (Retd) and the moderator was Sanjay Ubale, Executive Board Member of Mumbai First.
Srivastava said first up that it was heartening to see, “So many people in the audience on a working day, that too for a drab subject like Right to Services.” That earned him a few laughs. He pointed out that the “Right to Information (RTI) is much better known than the RTS Act. There is not much known about the latter. We need to create much more awareness about RTS. The RTI had its genesis in 2005, while the RTS was born in 2015.”
A key highlight of the programme was the live demonstration of the application process for government services under the RTS Act led by Dilip Shinde. Through slides Shinde explained how people could go online and access the government portal, how to apply for services, track application status, and escalate grievances in case of delays.
Baldev Singh said, “For citizens who are unable to access the portal online, the government has established 39,783 Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras (service centres) where one can avail of the services.”
There was an interactive session where people had a lot of questions about portal accessibility and navigation. A lady in the audience said she had difficulty in getting her daughter's domicile certificate through RTS herself and finally, had to pay an agent R500 for the same and get it done! To a question about how the younger generation can gain awareness about RTS and how it can appeal to younger persons, Srivastava announced that they have “suggested to the State Govt. that the RTS Act should be included in the Std IX and Std X syllabus” to audience applause.
Finally, there were numerous people who said they faced a lot of difficulty on the online platform, uploading documents etc. and panellists overall shared that the platform is, “being made more accessible, with a mobile-friendly version and a dedicated app currently under development”.
There was one telling question with an audience member asking how one could ensure anonymity through this Act as people are afraid to complain. The agent said, “They tell us, we are scared to complain and reveal our names, why don't you complain on our behalf?” A pointer that people still fear ‘repercussions’ when asking for answers/services from those in authority. The attendance and interaction showed that people were eager and enthused about availing of the services through this route, yet there is need for improvement and several gaps remain to be filled.
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