Civic body bids for transparency in work through Citizens Charter

“The Citizens Charter is ready with clear cut defining standards that would make efficient delivery of service from civic staff. It will be implemented on January 26,” said K C Karkar,PMC Deputy Municipal Commissioner.

Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade has issued orders to all the civic departments and ward offices for strict implementation of the charter. He said the civic staff has been trained for proper execution of the charter and office process manual has been prepared so that there cannot be any excuse in improving the delivery of service to citizens.

The PMC had earlier also prepared its Citizens Charter but they never brought it into practice,Karkar said adding,“The necessary changes have been made in the Charter and it will be strictly followed.”

Along with bringing in transparency in the administration,he said,the citizens have been empowered to take on the staff failing to deliver as per the decided standards.

“Every service has defined steps from filing of application to its delivery and a timeframe is set for its completion. If the citizens don’t get the prescribed service,a complaint can be filed with the head of the department concerned. If they remain unsatisfied,an appeal can be filed with the additional municipal commissioner which would lead to disciplinary action against the civic staff responsible for failure in the delivery of service,” Karkar said. In the office process manual,he said the responsibilities for each services at various stages have been well defined and no one can shrug off the responsibility for any delay or mistake in providing service to citizens.

Activist Vihar Durve said,“The civic administration should make it mandatory for each department to publicly display the update of number of applications received and cleared in time. The citizens should also be given explanation on rejection of any application,” he said.