Full Frontal

Better still, pursuing Central directives on public disclosure very seriously, BMC has turned conventional budget estimates on their head, listing the works and allocations after first detailing each department8217;s collective aspirations for the city. So, you know the fire brigade wants to step up efficiency of search and rescue operations, the Development Plan department wants to quicken acquisition of reserved plots and promote good building practices and the Information Technology Cell is assuring transparency in administration through a comprehensive Rs 100-crore computerisation programme.

Against these lofty fiscal new year resolutions are the corresponding measures and the aforementioned jobs and money set aside for each. The final flourish: Expected dates of opening tender bids, issuing work orders and how much work is expected to be complete by March 31, 2007.

All this is in a 440-pg oversize book of 8216;highlights8217; that has been compulsive reading for most corporators all of last fortnight.

8216;8216;In comparison, regular budget documents are nine or 10 books, difficult to understand,8217;8217; says BJP corporator Ashish Shelar. 8216;8216;With these highlights, we can look at available provisions quickly and know if it8217;s enough.8217;8217; Also, he notes, mentioning deadlines means citizens and corporators can haul up the administration for work not done.

Impressed with the extent of disclosure, a team advising the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike even borrowed a copy of the document.

But the book is for corporators only; citizens will have to log on to mcgm.gov.in after the estimates are approved formally this week. The waiting-for-approval estimates are already on karmayog.org, which convenes an NGO Council working closely with the BMC.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Manu Kumar Srivastava says there will also be quarterly or half-yearly Public Record of Operations and Finance, a public appraisal of progress. 8216;8216;So Mumbaiites will really be able to hold the BMC accountable.8217;8217;

The most enthusiastic applause is from civil society, with a cheer also going up in Bangalore, from Swati Ramanathan, co-founder of citizen8217;s movement Janaagraha. In 2002, their effort made Bangalore Mahanagara Palike the first and only Indian city to publish quarterly results, like corporates.

8216;8216;Since then, PROOF Public Record Of Operations and Finance has really matured. From rudimentary numbers earlier, Bangalore8217;s citizens can now get strategic data on works and also understand the budgeting process,8217;8217; she says, adding that it is a robust accrual-based modern accounting system that makes the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike8217;s financial results meaningful. Mumbai8217;s own double-entry, accrual-based accounting system is under construction.

8216;8216;Everybody can now comprehend various factors that make a budget8212;logical thinking, but also pressure groups and politics,8217;8217; says Vinay Somani of Karmayog. 8216;8216;Citizens should analyse how they8217;d like each clause in the commissioner8217;s speech to read next year8212;that8217;s participative planning and governance.8217;8217;