shailesh gandhi

B2 Gokul Apartment,Podar Road, Santacruz (W),Mumbai-400054 ,

Tel: 26001003, 897240798 Email: shaileshgan@gmail.com
23 June 2014
To,
The Municipal Commissioner,
MCGM.
Sub.: Proposal under Section 36 (H) of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act to be discussed on 24
June
Dear Sir,
I am distressed to read that D ward office is following a despicable and anti-citizen practise and
there is a move to replicate this across all wards. The proposal outlined in MCGM advertisement
PRO/235/ADV./2014 seeks to ask those who want to lodge a complaint in the ward office to give
proof of education, occupation, and residence. It also mentions that the name of complainant and
details thereof should be displayed on the notice board. Citizens file complaints with MCGM because
of lack of reasonable services, or for stopping illegal activities like illegal building construction,
encroachments or corruption. In all these cases citizens are giving a free service to MCGM since its
staff is not doing its job. The practise which is being followed by D ward and now being advertised
appears to effectively stop telephone complaints on 1916 and make citizens go to BMC offices and
give proof of their education, occupation and residence! I am unable to understand the relevance of
these for filing a complaint.
It appears to be designed to harass and intimidate those who wish to file a complaint and also
expose them to threats, assaults and murder if they are making complaints of illegal activities. This is
an extremely regressive practise being followed in D Ward. If any citizen comes to any harm because
of this practise we will hold the Corporation responsible for this. While India moves towards a better
democracy, this move appears to be aimed at targeting and intimidating citizens who take the
trouble to highlight the shortcomings and illegal activities. While the nation makes moves to protect
whistleblowers, D ward appears to be wanting to muzzle them.
I am sure you must be unaware of this and request you to issue instructions to D ward to
immediately stop this practise and ensure that MCGM focuses on providing better services to
citizens, rather than intimidating and harassing them. We expect all officers and elected
representatives to condemn this move.
Yours truly
shailesh gandhi