Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) awarded for tranperancy but scores low on online hits

Government agencies are increasingly using social networking sites to give out information to netizens, but Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which caters to tech-savvy Mumbaikars, has the least number of followers.

Ironically, just two years ago, the civic body had received an award for transparency and accountability and this included its online services.

A quick check with a handful of agencies having presence on facebook shows that BMC's official page has only 1,007 likes in it. Mumbai police has 42,434 likes as against 14,431 likes for Mumbai Traffic Police, which was once very active in giving information to Mumbaikars. The traffic police have now stopped sharing updates to its patrons.

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) that serves more to semi-urban and rural population has over 7,500 followers on facebook. Their official page was created just five months ago. Every day, there is an update about the corporation and its services or any announcements. "With young people spending a lot of time on social networking sites using their gadgets and hand-held devices, a page on facebook is a lot convenient to share regular updates. The response from public too is encouraging," said Mukund Dhus, spokesperson of MSRTC.

The Maharsahtra Police has close to a lakh likes, 97,464 to be precise, but information shared on it is nil. But E-Gov Maharashtra, the official page of the state government, is very much active. It shares information of conferences and seminars held and news reports on government policies and plans.