The new civic chief’s people- friendly approach and alacrity to address their grievances was evident when he announced that he will meet and listen to the public every day.
The newly appointed commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Guruprasad Mohapatra, assumed office on Tuesday.
The new civic chief’s people- friendly approach and alacrity to address their grievances was evident when he announced that he will meet and listen to the public every day.
The new commissioner said that he will spare two hours daily for public. “I will meet public between 3:00 o’clock and 5:00 o’clock everyday at AMC’s main office,” Mohapatra said.
He assured that he will listen to people’s grievances during weekdays on regular basis.
At present, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm have been dedicated to people for meeting civic body officials. However, in majority of the cases, the chambers are seen locked from outside as top-level officials remain busy with one or another kind of meeting.
The new municipal commissioner said that he will not schedule any meeting of AMC officials between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, unless there is an emergency. “I will follow it and expect others to do the same,” said Mohapatra.
The new commissioner has set improvement of cleanliness and sanitation conditions in the city as his top priority. However, he clarified that by stressing upon improving cleanliness, he did not mean that Ahmedabad is a dirty city.
“Ahmedabad is a well-managed and well-maintained city. Many good things are happening in solid waste management and I would like to carry them forward,” he said.
The civic chief also said that he believes in taking stock of ground reality and will take morning rounds of the city. “First, I need to know and understand city’s geography and then zero in on
areas that require extensive field visits,” he said.
His experience as municipal commissioner of Surat, collector of Junagadh and Rajkot and district development officer of Surendranagar is likely to help him tackle the day-to-day administrative problems and deal with public. When asked how he will handle political pressure and avoid clashes with the political groups, the seasoned IAS officer ducked the question.
He admitted that the city poses many challenges as well. The city's decadal growth rate is 22%; so there is a need to build infrastructure in tandem with the growing population. "As municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad, there are a lot of expectations from you," said Mohapatra.
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