Praja manifesto suggests open data BMC portal to empower citizens and make corporators accountable

Several resident groups and citizens have already created manifestos for their candidates at the ward level

MUMBAI: With the BMC polls round the corner, non-profit Praja Foundation on Tuesday released an election manifesto with a holistic wish list for the city, both at the ward level and in terms of overall policy. Several resident groups and citizens have already created manifestos for their candidates at the ward level.

Raju Shinde | HT Photo(Hindustan Times)

While the Praja manifesto focuses on the basic requirements of an urban area such as schools, public health infrastructure and green spaces, it also suggests policy decisions that could change the city and involve active community engagement.

The manifesto mainly demands transparency from the BMC. It suggests the establishment of an open data portal that will showcase all the tenders, budgets and expenditure at the ward level along with the performance of health facilities, environment status and air quality reports. “Such a portal will bring in more transparency in Mumbai and help citizens to be more active in urban planning,” said Milind Mhaske, CEO of Praja foundation.

HT graphic

For citizens to participate more actively, public meetings could be live-streamed on a digital platform, the manifesto further states. “As the BMC has not had elected representatives for years, citizens have had to approach MPs directly, due to which several local-level issues could not be raised,” said Mhaske. “Now that the elections are finally happening, this can be seen as an opportunity to make representatives accountable.”

The CEO said that to be able to accomplish this, citizens needed to be equipped with data and information about all the facilities and projects in every ward, which a portal would facilitate. “They should then prepare a ward-wise list, assess public infrastructure in terms of health, education and potholes and create a data sheet with set goals for the candidates and use it to assess the corporators performance at the end of the term,” he said.

The report highlights that as of December 2023, 31% of medical staff (directly treating patients) posts were vacant while the para-medical staff vacancies were 42%. On that date, there were only 13 government health personnel per 10,000 population and a similar dearth in municipal schools.