BMC8217;s website assures citizens instant access

MUMBAI, MAY 16: No more grimacing at vanishing civic officials, whose elastic lunch breaks hold up tired queues of citizens waiting for b...

MUMBAI, MAY 16: No more grimacing at vanishing civic officials, whose elastic lunch breaks hold up tired queues of citizens waiting for birth registration forms. Even those trite excuses trotted out by bored office clerks 8211; 8220;the forms are still being printed, madam8221; 8211; are about to become redundant. Come June, and all it will take to cut through layers of lower-level bureaucracy at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is to log in to a website on the Internet and access registration forms, register your complaints or access information on civic issues.

The BMC is about to hop on to the information superhighway, much to the relief of both citizens as well as civic officials, says Joint Municipal Commissioner, Ajay Mehta, who is orchestrating the project. He says this will simplify procedures considerably. For instance, to access registration forms, persons who possess a computer and a printer will merely have to download the document, fill it up and submit it to the ward officer concerned.Therefore, harried citizens will no longer have to entertain nightmares of absconding ward officers and stubborn peons.

The corporation itself will save lakhs of rupees. 8220;The BMC spends lakhs on advertising in newspapers abroad for tenders for World Bank projects such as the Mumbai Sewerage Disposal Project and the Mumbai Water Supply Project. We shall now advertise on the net and contractors will have to merely download the tender, fill it up and post it to us,8221; Mehta told Express Newsline. In fact, this will entail a saving of over a lakh rupees every month.In Phase-II of the project, Mumbaikars will be able to register civic complaints via the net as well. Mehta says about 10 complaint boxes will be accessible for various issues such as those relating to say, water supply, garbage clearance and choked drains. These complaints will be then forwarded to the ward officer concerned the very next day and can thus be acted upon quickly.

Mehta also says he has discussed the concept with Mayor HareshwarPatil extensively. 8220;Patil seemed quite pleased. We should have done this a couple of years ago,8221; he says.

The contract to create a website has already been awarded to a private firm which will cost the municipal corporation about Rs 40,000, with the BMC expecting to go online in a fortnight. Apart from registering the usual gripes, people will also be able to access information pertaining to the BMC.