Subject: Reply to letter from MRCC inviting suggestions
Mumbai Congress Office
Congress Sadan
Azad Maidan
Mumbai – 400 001
Dear Shri Kamat,
Sub: Citizens’ Manifesto for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Elections 2007
Thank you for your letter dated 6th November, 2006, inviting suggestions for the manifesto for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Elections 2007.
At the outset, we would like to thank the Mumbai Congress for taking this welcome step of including citizen and civil society participation and involvement in all aspects of Local Self Government, especially in determining the key issues that affect citizens today. Karmayog and the NGO Council, Mumbai are happy to be a part of this dialogue that encourages transparency and increases ownership of citizens for their Municipal Corporation.
As you may be aware, Karmayog.org, that was set up in June 2004, is a unique free internet platform for concerned citizens – for social causes in India and civic issues in Mumbai. Karmayog networks with over 4000 NGOs in India, including 1000 in Mumbai alone, as well as has resource sections, forums, volunteering opportunities, online complaint and suggestion forms, etc.
Karmayog is also the convening NGO of the NGO Council, Mumbai, a networking platform of Mumbai-based NGOs that was convened in August 2005, with the objective of strenghtening the NGO sector and building a mechanism for sustained interaction between Government and civil society. The NGO Council has signed a historic MoU with the BMC for Good City Governance in December 2005 and has worked closely with the BMC on several issues such as Solid Waste Management, Public Health, Hawkers, etc. The NGO Council is also working in partnership with the Anti-Corruption Bureau in a Mumbai – Pact Against Corruption (M-PAC) program to increase community participation in the fight against corruption.
In this context, based on the interaction and experiences of the NGO Council with the BMC and other Government bodies, we would like to suggest the following commitments to be made and kept by the Corporators, who represent the citizens in the BMC:
Corporators of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation commit to:
1. Zero-tolerance of corruption – by supporting community participation in the fight against corruption through initiatives such as M-PAC, RTI, etc.
2. A formal and sustained involvement of cvil society in the framing of new policies, programmes and procedures of BMC and yearly review of the existing ones.
These commitments, when upheld, will make a significant difference in improving not only the governance of our cities, but also as a follow through, will considerably improve the lives of citizens, and thus need to form a powerful and integral part of any manifesto that is adopted to achieve what Shri Manmohan Singh said during the inauguration of the first phase of the Mumbai Metro Rail Project on 21st June 2006 viz. “Every citizen must feel that their municipality is of them and for them” .