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BMC, MMRDA engage in social media tussle over citizens’ plaints
With myriad agencies running Mumbai, the turf war between the various government departments is not new but so far it has been played out tacitly in official meetings
With myriad agencies running Mumbai, the turf war between the various government departments is not new but so far it has been played out tacitly in official meetings and correspondence.
Now, with several public agencies active on social media websites, especially on Twitter, citizens are getting first-hand accounts of bickering between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) online.
The two agencies have been slugging it out over the jurisdiction for the past couple of days over citizen grievances.
In one such complaint about an open manhole in Bandra (East), the BMC’s official handle on Monday responded, “Thank you sharing. Your complaint has been acknowledged by our team and we will attend it soon.”
However, later the BMC replied saying it had intimated the MMRDA about the issue, to which latter claimed that the civic body’s contradictory tweets was creating confusion.
“We request you [BMC] to please come to a conclusion [on] whether you will be looking after the situation or should we intervene; your contradictory tweets are causing confusion among people,” MMRDA tweeted.
In a similar case about a complaint on an uneven road, the BMC had replied that it had directed the MMRDA to attend to the plaint.
However, MMRDA tweeted asking BMC to not tag the agency everywhere. “We request you to not tag us anywhere and everywhere. It would be nice if you could look into matters pertaining to you ... avoid confusion please… however, the above complaint pertains to MSRDC [Maharashtra State Road Development] and not MMRDA [sic].”
A BMC official said, “We are just ensuring to attend every possible citizens concern by giving them replies in text of standard format, but the argument over the same on public forum can always be avoided.”
The MMRDA has refused to comment on the issue. “We do not have any further comment on the issue, but as a government body, we agree that no one, including us or the BMC, should do anything that results in an argument,” an official from the agency said.
