April 6, 2006 : Meeting Agenda

Sub: 6 April: Meeting of the NGO Council at 11:30 am, to review the working of the MOU between the MCGM-NGO Council

A meeting of the NGO Council has been scheduled on Thursday, 6th April  2006, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at the Conference Room, BMC Annexe Building, 3rd floor, Fort.

You may recall that the last meeting of the NGO Council was held on 22nd Dec.2005, just after signing an MoU with the BMC, that marked a new way of collaborative working with the BMC on civic issues. The past three months have seen several new initiatives undertaken between MCGM and the NGO Council, based on the main principles of the MoU that promote Good City Governance.

The most recent of these initiatives includes the Charter for the MCGM – Local Area Citizens Group Partnership 2006 that has come into effect from 1st April 2006. It may be useful to discuss how LACGs, as a “citizen unit”, can be useful for the social or civic activity your NGO is involved in.

A draft Public Health policy for Mumbai is also in the final stages and your inputs on that would be appreciated.

The BMC Solid Waste Rules 2006 that were notified on 1st March 2006 was also prepared in close consultation with the NGO Council, and a sub-group on Cleanliness that was formed for the purpose.

The mechanisms for working on the above and for other issues taken up by the NGO Council has been through a systems of comments and discussions via the e-group, leading to the formation of a smaller working group that has meetings, internally, and with MCGM officials, and with other experts/individuals as required. Such a system of working has proven to be effective with meaningful results achieved in a relatively short period. Any further suggestions and feedback from you on methods of working for the NGO Council would be appreciated.

One of the next issues that is proposed to be undertaken by the NGO Council is Disaster Management, and the MCGM is keen to work closely with civil society organisations, to strengthen and augment its Disaster management Plan for the city.

We could also discuss how the NGO Council could take up other matters with BMC or other government bodies.

Also, while a lot of information has been obtained from the BMC and has been duly circulated, if there is other existing or future information that you think should be obtained, do let me know.

The LACG Charter and the Public Health Policy and the BMC – NGO Council MOU are all online in www.karmayog.org

Sorry for the short and sudden notice for this meeting but this opportunity has come up because 6th April is a holiday, and Mr. Subrat Ratho, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC, has been kind enough to make available the BMC Conference Room as well as has agreed to participate in the discussion pertaining to how the MCGM – LACG Partnership can be useful for the social and civic issues that your NGO deals with.

Do email and inform whether you are attending or not.
If you are unable to attend, do email your comments and feedback on the LACG charter.

Looking forward to your presence.

Thanks and Regards