NMC hopes Citizen's Charter brings transparency, efficiency

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation has decided to ensure increased efficiency and transparency in its working. The NMC Standing Committee, on Saturday, passed a resolution to introduce citizen's charter -a crucial component of the Jan Lokpal bill proposed by Anna Hazare - to make officials accountable and help common people. The citizen's charter would be implemented after consent from the NMC general body.

Addressing newspersons after the Standing Committee meeting, Joshi said, "The citizen's charter will ensure massive improvement in NMC's works."

Once the Citizen's Charter is implemented, NMC will have to display a chart mentioning six points - nature of work, time duration, cost, concerned official with his/her contact number, concerned official and name, contact number of public grievance officer work. The chart will also be displayed outside the concerned department. It will be applicable for all works and departments related to the civic body.

Any citizen may lodge complaint with the citizen grievance officer in case of any delay in completion of work or compromise in quality or any malpractice. Currently, the citizens face hardships to reach concerned officer and getting their grievances redressed. For any information regarding works, the citizens seek information under RTI. Citizen's Charter will come in handy for citizens facing problems due to red tape.

If any concerned officer fails to complete the work in the stipulated time or maintain quality and transparency, he will be liable for a penalty of Rs 250 (minimum) to Rs 25,000 (maximum) per day till the officer completes the work, Joshi informed.

In case a revised deadline is issued and if the work is not complete, the concerned official would be fined Rs 500 (minimum) and Rs 50,000 (maximum) per day. "NMC will be the first civic body in the country to make provisions of such hefty penalty. The amount is just Rs 10-250 in MCD," Joshi said.

Welcoming the decision, RTI activist Rajeev Jagtap said the NMC needed something like this to rein in corruption that has been affecting civic amenities and works. Even the state government should implement Citizen's Charter in all departments," he said.