Assistant municipal commissioners of K – West, H – East and H – West wards (Andheri to Bandra), who were not putting on record the public grievances of citizens in their respective wards, were taken to task by Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, last week.
These ward officers were not giving public grievance (PG) forms to citizens, so as to reduce the number of complaints received by them, thus to lighten their workloads.
"We were not given public grievance forms ever since the new assistant commissioners took over. We tried to put up our complaints but there was no response from the officials. Our problems were not addressed and there was no way we could claim that we did register our complaint. Now that the additional municipal commissioner has directed the assistant municipal commissioners to make the forms available, hopefully our grievances will be addressed," said an activist from Andheri.
The meeting held by Deshmukh was attended by Ram Dhas, deputy municipal commissioner of the zone, and the three ward officers. "The AMC has asked the ward officers to not only give the public access to the PG forms, but to also keep track of their complaints. Also, except on Monday and Friday, complaints from the advanced locality management (ALM) members and individual grievance should be taken. These grievances should be addressed within a month," said a civic official, who was the part of the meeting.
Each ward office has to make the public grievance forms available to citizens. These forms are filled and given back to the ward office itself. The complaints are sent to the respective departments. The respective heads of departments then address the complaints and try to resolve them. The action-taken report is then prepared.
Activist Aftab Siddique said that he had raised the matter with the AMC for western suburbs as his complaints were ignored at the ward level. "However, in the light of assurances given to us by the AMC, we are relieved because we will at least be able to lodge our complaints," he said.
Lodge FIR against illegal banners
Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh has asked all ward officers to take action against the illegal banners and posters in their areas. The AMC has directed the ward officers to file police complaints against the law breakers. "The AMC has strictly directed us not to spare anyone, even if he is a political bigwig. Those who put up illegal banners and posters will be booked," said a civic official.
The wards will also have to take action against licensed stalls which have illegal extensions or have shifted their locations. "As per rules, licensed stalls cannot be shifted from their locations. But the ward officers have given special permissions to shift stalls under political pressure. Several stall owners have also extended their stalls illegally and taken over entire footpaths," said an activist.
Ward officials, however will now have to take action against these stall owners and ensure that the space encroached upon by them is freed up. Also the shifted stalls will have to be put back in their original locations," said a civic official.
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