Civic body earmarks Rs 46 crore in budget to set up rating system on its online portal, mobile app and WhatsApp chatbot, promises to provide status reports of projects
Citizens have long demanded a feedback mechanism for the various online services offered by the BMC. Representation pic
Fulfilling a long-pending demand made by activists, the civic body is going to provide a feedback mechanism on its online services wherein citizens can give their inputs and rate the services. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) budget for 2023-24, in addition to these mechanisms, the corporation also promises to provide project status reports and has earmarked Rs 46 crore for these tasks.
The BMC provides more than 80 services and sub-services through the MyBMC portal, the MyBMC mobile app, and MyBMC Assist WhatsApp Chatbot. Citizens have found it difficult to keep track of their complaints on these online and telephonic services due to the lack of a feedback mechanism.
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“There are many platforms offered by the BMC to register complaints, but the system is unidirectional. Why doesn’t the BMC make it efficient? We don’t get any response, and there is no mechanism to give feedback,” said Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of the Chandivli Citizens Welfare Association (CCWA), which recently organised a protest demanding the completion of road work. The association also demanded that the redressal system be made more efficient. Makkar said they registered complaints on every possible platform of the BMC but did not get any response.
Godfrey Pimenta, an activist, said, “The BMC is working in isolation with their whims and fancies. There is no system to take citizen feedback on issues and give responses.” He added that footpaths are being relaid, broken and again relaid. “It has become an annual exercise,” he said.
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In the budget estimates for 2023-24, the BMC has said it will introduce feedback mechanisms for all online services. Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal mentioned on February 4 in his budget speech, “Feedback mechanisms will facilitate citizens to provide inputs and ratings for services and help in the improvement of service delivery. We will provide a civic complaint redressal dashboard and civic services-related information in dashboards. There will be tracking of complaints and applications and ward-wise comparison for effective performance.”
As per the budget, even quarterly status reports of projects will be made available online for citizens’ information. The civic body claims that civic services data will be made available to citizens in easy formats with analytics. There is a provision of Rs 46 crore for this in the 2023-24 budget.
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