Civic body is becoming sensitive towards quality, accountability

There is no mention of funds for Balasaheb's memorial
AM: Chief minister had recently sent us a letter giving the nod to memorial to be constructed at Mayor's bungalow. The bungalow, however, needs to be handed over to the trust, which will then let us know if they were willing to construct the memorial or the BMC will have to do so. The details will have to be worked out accordingly. Hence, there was no mention.

BMC has proposed to charge different fees from patients from areas outside the BMC jurisdiction. Why?
AM: The service charges for healthcare were determined in 2000. Over the past 15 years, there has been a substantial increase in the cost of services. Although it is an accepted fact that it would not be prudent to recover service charges proportionate to the actual expenditure, it has become necessary to increase them. About 45 per cent of the patients treated under BMC healthcare are residents of areas outside its jurisdiction.

Why was there no mention of chikki or flavoured milk as mid-day meal in the budgetary allocation?
AM: The state government already has a scheme for nutritious mid-day meal. While all these years the civic body used to provide additional bit from its own side, the issue of chikki is yet to be resolved. Students, however, will continue to get nutritious meals, as per the Central and state governments schemes.

Only 25 per cent of the capital budget was utilised this year. What steps is BMC taking to ensure that more funds are used and the city gets better facilities without waiting for long?
SM: The municipal commissioner and additional municipal commissioners take review meetings of budgetary utilisation every month. The civic administration is becoming sensitive towards quality and accountability. Rather than announcing too many projects that lead to nowhere, we are concentrating on finishing the projects in time. Also, before tabling proposals for new projects, the top administration wants the heads of departments to get all permissions and sanctions in place. The administration is focused and moving in the right direction.

After the Deonar fire, has the civic body chalked out plan B for the city's waste disposal?
AM: The BMC has already decided to shift the dumping ground to Taloja and Airoli. From Day 1, the garbage will be treated scientifically here and not merely dumped. Also, on one of the sites, BMC plans to create a facility to convert construction and debris to useful material. This will encourage people to send debris and construction material to the right place, rather than dumping it on wetlands illegally.

What is BMC doing to improve the healthcare system of civic hospitals?
SD: BMC will soon start a health record system for every patient. This will help the BMC and patients in the follow-up treatment. This will happen for the first time in any municipal corporation. Apart from this, BMC will also fill 1,000 new posts of technical staff. New posts are also being created for doctors and nurses. This will, however, take three years. Meanwhile, BMC is focusing on strengthening primary healthcare system, so that patients do not need peripheral or tertiary care.