Files are stacking up and complaint boxes are brimming over at the civic headquarters and local ward offices.
Files are stacking up and complaint boxes are brimming over at the civic headquarters and local ward offices.
With the budget session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly on, many senior civic staff members have stationed themselves at Mantralaya to answer the innumerous queries posed by legislators.
These civic officials are expected to sit through the entire Zero Hour, when the question and answer session is held, armed with all the necessary files and documents.
“We have a lot to do. We have been preparing for the question-answer sessions for a fortnight now — even before the budget session began. Even, our department head has to be present at the Mantralaya to answer any BMC-related queries,” says a civic staff member, while faxing copies of details to Mantralaya on Friday.
But, citizens and activists are upset, as their files are gathering dust and complaints are not being followed.
A civic activist says even the maintenance officer of the local ward refused a meeting claiming he was at the Mantralaya with his senior.
“We have been coming to the H-west ward office every day for the last one week. But no senior official is on his seat until 4pm. Int heir absence, clerks have been busy moving files and finding details on various issues,” the activist claims.
“When we enquire about any official we are told that he or she is at the Mantralaya and we are then told to come after April 20.”
Even newly-elected corporators are finding it difficult to meet civic officials, though they work from the same building.
“We have several issues to discuss and need to include a few provisions in the revised budget before it is passed. But every time we approach an official’s personal assistant, they politely ask us to avoid insisting on meeting their bosses as they are at Mantralaya. The officials return to the civic headquarters only in the evening to prepare for the next day’s queries,” says a newly-elected corporator waiting outside an additional municipal commissioner’s office.
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