Nagpur: The shabby affairs being run by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on resolving civic complaints continue to leave Nagpurians furious. The “Show Business” by the civic body of fooling the citizens continues shamelessly.
On one hand, Nagpur is being ‘developed’ and mentioned as a smart city. On the other hand, it is seen that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation is failing to solve the basic problems of the citizens. Even though there is no complaint box at NMC Headquarters for citizens, they are advised to complain on social media or online. But even on social media, the NMC indulges in marketing by solving ‘special’ complaints. But the scenario is that the complaints of common people are not taken into account.
For the last one year or so, there has been an ‘administrator’s rule’ in the NMC. Meanwhile, lakhs of rupees are being spent on the beautification of the city for the upcoming G20 meeting by hiring private agencies. Also, the municipality administration is working hard to get a ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2023. However, no hearing has been conducted on the real problems faced by the people of Nagpur.
According to the rule, every government office must have a complaint box for citizens in the facade. However, it is seen that this box does not exist in the headquarters of Nagpur Municipal Corporation where the Municipal Commissioner, who is also Administrator, is sitting. Therefore, it is better not to think about the status of other zones of the municipality. On the other hand, citizens who come with complaints are sent to the Despatch Department. They are also advised to get a receipt from that department.
Moreover, if a citizen comes to the Municipal Commissioner with a complaint, he is advised to report there by showing the barcode of the social media handle pasted and he has to return the way he came. Even on the online complaints made to the people of Nagpur, the NMC is trying to pat itself on the back by posting ‘Before’ and ‘After’ posts on social media by resolving the select complaints.
Stop ‘social’ extravagance, demand angry Nagpurians:
On the one hand, lakhs of rupees are squandered by the NMC every month on social media handling agencies. Also, one more person has been appointed on contract basis as a social media coordinator. But even after this, a shocking fact has come to light that the complaints of the citizens are being ignored. Citizens have made an angry demand that the Municipal Corporation should stop the wastage of citizens’ money as even the basic complaints of the citizens are not being resolved.
A vigilant citizen Abhijit Singh Chandel had tweeted on January 25 about the construction materials spread in the square by the Municipal Corporation at Trimurtinagar Chowk. After that, a complaint was made on January 28 that a road near NIT Garden in Subhash Nagar was closed with netting. On February 4, he tried to draw attention of NMC towards the accidents caused by sand falling on the road at Bole Petrol Pump Chowk through a tweet.
Vaibhav Ganjapure tweeted on January 28 about the broken and rusted toys for children at Ramakrishna Garden, near Sai Mandir. Since children are playing in the park, it was also feared that they might get injured due to these broken toys. He had also complained about the release of cement, sand ballast and the road that had been broken on January 28. But till to date no action has been taken by the Municipal Corporation.
On December 15, Amit Bandurkar complained through a tweet that the road was blocked by dumped construction material on the road in Zingabai Takli area. No action was taken on this either.
On January 21, Rajat Padole had tweeted about the unsanitary nature of the Khare Town area in the Dharampeth Zone of the NMC along with photographs. After that, he retweeted this tweet on January 25 by quoting the same tweet to remind the civic body again. However, no action has been taken on this.
A user tweeted on January 20 about the broken footpath in the busy area. It is a broken footpath from Panchsheel Chowk to a furniture shop. The citizen says that no action has been taken on this.
Even after receiving hundreds of complaints on Nagpur Live City app, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, the NMC just indulged in a fooling game. Hardly a few complaints were resolved by the concerned authorities
Earlier in 2020, the NMC had launched a grievance redressal app — Nagpur Live City — for the citizens to lodge civic complaints. Every registered complaint was forwarded to the department concerned for necessary action. Subsequently, the NMC received thousands of complaints about various civic amenities. The complaints mostly related to choked sewerage, followed by solid waste management or irregular lifting of garbage, low pressure water supply, encroachments, bad roads, stray dog menace, people urinating in public places, garbage dumping in the open and non-functioning of street lights etc etc.
Playing “over smart”, the NMC introduced WhatsApp helpline number 8600004746 for the “convenience” of citizens to upload their complaints about deficiency in services. Citizens were finding it cumbersome to lodge their complaints on Nagpur Live City App. The move is nothing but to fool Nagpurians by one means or another.
Experience reveals that the civic complaints lodged by citizens hardly get the attention of the NMC authorities, forget resolving them. Reports revealed that the NMC registered more complaints pertaining to solid waste management. The problems in the city are becoming chronic due to choked sewerage lines as complaints pertaining to contamination of wells are on the rise. It has also come to the fore that complaints about streetlights and encroachments cases across the city apart from those about bad roads. Even stray cattle and dog menace increased in the city, as reflected in the app.
The NMC claimed to have promptly resolved over 90% grievances registered on the Nagpur Live City app. But the picture is totally different.
The citizens suffer due to short cuts adopted by some of the employees or some issues requiring urgent attention of senior officers. Complaints are being lodged with the NMC regarding the basic problems faced by the citizens. Citizens are being requested from time to time to register complaints on the Live City App by the administration.
