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Journalism of Courage
SOON, for the first time, the average Mumbai tax-payer will see how the country8217;s richest municipality spends its Rs 9,865 crore8212;work by work, in precise detail and with periodically published confessions on what8217;s really changed since each expenditure began.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC will soon publish a series of full-page advertisements in newspapers and on its under-revamp website, in painstaking detail, lists of planned works and provisions. So flood-wary Mumbaiites will know there8217;s Rs 4.4 crore for a 40-metre-high aerial ladder platform, Rs 3.4 crore for a new Simon snorkel, Rs 85 lakh for sets of breathing apparatus, Rs 5 crore for a 8216;8216;modern, state-of-the-art8217;8217; sports facility for corporators and employees8230;
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;
