Be more active on Twitter to handle grievances, civic chief tells officials

Municipal commissioner stated that being active on Twitter helps establishing a personal connect with citizens who voice their concerns about civic problems on Twitter.

Prepping itself for the ongoing monsoon and consequent complaints, municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Thursday told officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to be more active on Twitter to tackle citizens’ grievances.

For now, officers from several departments will be made to sit in the disaster management cell to deal with queries and tweets. (Reuters File Photo / Representative image)

The BMC plans to have dedicated Twitter accounts to report potholes and waterlogging.

According to a BMC official, Pardeshi held a meeting on Thursday on the usage of social media by the civic body in general, especially during monsoon. A BMC official said, “Commissioner directed us to be active on Twitter, citing that it helps establish a personal connect with citizens who voice their concerns about civic problems on Twitter.”

The BMC official added, “There have been times when people tweet about their civic problems, especially during monsoon, but we are not there to reply to them. We have our disaster management cell active on Twitter but that does not deal with problems like that of say potholes or other problems relating to gardens or open spaces.” According to BMC officials, eventually in the coming months, all crucial departments like stormwater drains, roads that deals with potholes, gardens department dealing with open spaces will have separate Twitter accounts. Currently, Twitter accounts of the disaster management cell, health department and BMC’s solid waste management have a separate Twitter account, but it is not active. The BMC official added, “The commissioner also told us that BMC does have a Twitter account, but it is not that active. We were told to get more active on Twitter especially during monsoon.”

For now, officers from several departments will be made to sit in the disaster management cell to deal with queries and tweets. They will be known as coordination officers, who will provide factual information and replies to the social media team to reply or inform about the respective accounts.