It takes a village to bring in amenities

(Published in Times of India on 20th July 2009)

NEW DELHI: A few kilometres from the Sonia Vihar treatment plant, there's a quiet revolution taking place.
Badarpur Khadar, a small village with barely 1,500 inhabitants, may not seem much it's a village without electricity, school, health centre, ration shop or even pukka roads. But if activities of the past few weeks are any indication, this "unauthorized colony'' is taking a small step towards participatory governance that could spell big success for citizens all over. On July 12, residents of Badarpur Khadar, for the first time, collectively took decisions and told their local representative what they wanted. In an open mohalla sabha meeting with Annapurna Mishra, Sonia Vihar councillor, over 100 men and women of Badarpur Khadar decided they wanted a school, ration cards for every household, voter ID cards for every adult, widow and old-age pension for eight identified women, and a pukka road from "Babu's home to Jafru's home''. It's an experiment in participatory governance which, Mishra says, is already bearing fruit. "My first mohalla sabha was in E-block, Sonia Vihar, with the second one being in Badarpur Khadar. Initially, people were skeptical but they saw I was serious about the effort and the feedback has been phenomenal,'' says Mishra. Accompanied by MCD officials, Mishra conducts the sabha with a clear-cut agenda ask the people directly what they want. "I'm a first-time councillor. Instead of spending public funds on projects which people may not want, I wanted to ask them what they really wanted. The idea of the mohalla sabha was suggested by Parivartan, a local NGO,'' adds the councillor. Mishra has about Rs 50 lakh in councillor's funds. In addition, MCD also spends funds under various heads. These would now be spent according to the will of the people, she says. The sabha is especially useful for a village like Badarpur Khadar, which has woefully few resources. This village has never had any school and most children don't go to school. A few go to those in Loni or Mirpur in UP. After the Sunday sabha, village adults decided that a 10 bigha plot of land belonging to gram samaj (common land) would be set aside for a school. Villagers also claimed that hardly 10-15 out of the 180 households have ration cards. Solution: a team of local volunteers would collect documents from all households and complete the formalities for getting their ration cards made. Also, names of eight women were suggested so that their pension accounts could be opened with the government. That's not all. Next on agenda is voter ID cards, and more importantly, a pukka road. At the sabha, Soopanji and one Hashim Ali proposed that the path from Babu's home to Jafru's home should first be turned into a pukka road. After others voiced their agreement, MCD officials conferred with the two to confirm the location of the proposed road and took notes. Moreover, the village doesn't have a dispensary or primary health centre (PHC). Mishra said she suspected the village might not have enough population to qualify for a PHC, but she would nevertheless try. "What I can do immediately is to send mobile health vans here,'' she promised. Finally, a list of the tasks set by the mohalla sabha for Mishra was read out and the date of the next meeting was decided. The sabha in Badarpur Khadar is not a one-off phenomenon. While Mishra says she's committed to the experiment, nearby councillor Hari Shankar Kashyap of Trilokpuri is also planning to start the sabhas. It's a movement that could well change the way governments function, admit politicians. Adds Mishra, "It obviously makes me more accountable. But if I can make a difference, it ultimately reflects well on my political career and means progress for the ward. I'm okay with that.'' So are residents of Badarpur Khadar.

Development for the people, by the people in Delhi

July 15th, 2009 - 5:41 pm ICT by IANS -

By Shweta Srinivasan and Mayank Aggarwal

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Two municipal councillors in the national capital have decided to put “power back into the public’s hands” by choosing to hear them out before undertaking any development work in their areas.

Hari Shankar Kashyap and Annapurna Mishra, municipal councillors of Trilok Puri and Sonia Vihar wards, respectively, have tied up with Swaraj Campaign - a programme initiated by a group of NGOs under which the councillor meets people via open public meetings called “mohalla sabhas” and carries out development work as per their needs.

Residents complain and he listens patiently because Hari Shankar Kashyap, municipal councillor from a poorly developed area in east Delhi, feel that those who voted him to power can ask him anything.

“After all the public voted me to power. They should be allowed to see change as per what they dictate and prioritise. I want to put power back into the public’s hands,” Kashyap told IANS.

After holding two meetings with his constituents in the last two weeks, the recent one being a gathering in Pocket-III of Mayur Vihar, Kashyap has decided to divide his Rs.5 million ward development fund into eight parts.

“People know that they can use this fund for development work. Payment for any of the infrastructure projects that are going on will not be cleared unless they meet the residents’ satifaction. Projects will be decided as per priority,” said Kashyap.

Residents are informed about the meetings in advance so that they can be prepared.

Mishra also held one such meeting in Badarpur Khadar village. Around 100 residents spelt out their demands to her in the presence of other Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials.

Residents complained that the village of 1,500 had no electricity, no school, no ration shop, no medical facilities, no tarred roads, and no flush toilets.

“This village has never had any school. Most children don’t go to school. A few of them go to schools in Loni or Mirpur in Uttar Pradesh. So a school should be our first priority,” villager Mahabir Singh told Mishra.

After listening to the complaints, Mishra told the gathering: “From today, you will directly dictate the development of your village. I’ll try my best to carry out your will. You have voted me into power.”

Mishra agreed that a school, ration cards for every household, identity cards for every adult, widow and old age pension for eight women, and a tarred road would be commissioned soon using Rs.5 million from her ward development fund.

Mishra has decided to take up the issue of setting up a school with the MCD.

Both councillors felt that others should also follow in their footsteps and get back to the people.

“I don’t know if other councillors will conduct such meetings. They will if they start believing in the welfare of the people who choose them,” said Kashyap.

“A few MCD councillors and officials have already started complaining against this model of grassroots democracy because they won’t be able to make money in an environment of transparency,” said Mishra.

One of the campaign’s core initiators is Magsaysay award winner and Right to Information (RTI) activist Arvind Kejriwal.

“This mohalla sabha is not a one-off affair. These meetings will now happen regularly. For now, it has materialised only in two wards - about a dozen more MCD councillors have given a positive response to this and will soon start conducting these meetings,” Kejriwal told IANS.

“It is interesting to see that people’s needs and demands are so limited. Various governments and the municipality spend crores of rupees but people are still dissatisfied because the money is not spent on what people want.” he added.

Another activist associated with the campaign said: “More and more councillors are realising that this will keep them in touch with their constituents and later it could translate into votes for them.”

FIRST MOHALLA SABHA MEETING - MINUTES

For details of Firts Mohalla Sabha Meeting, please click here:
http://www.yudu.com/item/details/70155/First-Mohalla-Sabbha-Meeting-Minutes--S-onia-Vihar

NEW CHAPTER OF DEMOCRACY

WITNESS THE HISTORY IN THE MAKING

AS PEOPLE OF SONIA VIHAR

ARE ALL SET TO WRITE

A NEW CHAPTER OF DEMOCRACY

YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US FOR

FIRST MEETING OF MOHALLA SABHA

5th JULY SUNDAY

AT NEW ERA PUBLIC SCHOOL

BLOCK E-1, SONIA VIHAR

SONIA VIHAR WARD IS ALL SET TO WRITE A NEW EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

सोनिया विहार : लोकतंत्र का एक अभिनव प्रयोग

सोनिया विहार क्षेत्र की जन प्रतिनिधि होने के नाते मैंने यह निर्णय लिया है की मेरे वार्डमें निगम प्रशासन क्षेत्र की जनता की सीधी सहभागिता के द्वारा ही कार्य करेगा।

इसके लिए मैंने क्षेत्र को १४ मोहल्ला सभा में विभाजित किया है। हर मोहल्ला सभा के सभी वोटर मोहल्ला सभा के सदस्य होंगे। निगम पार्षद की अध्यक्षता में हर मोहाला सभा की मीटिंग महीने में एक बार होगी। मीटिंग में निम्नलिखित निर्णय लिए जायेंगे:

१ निगम पार्षद तथा नगर निगम के अन्य मदों में जो विकास कार्य हेतु फंड उपलब्ध है, उसका किन कार्यो में उपयोग किया जाए। यह निर्णय मोहल्ला सभा द्वारा आम सहमती अथवा वोटिंग द्वारा लिए जायेंगे।

२ मोहल्ल सभा से कार्य संतोषजनक होने का प्रमाण पत्र लेने के बाद ही ठेकेदार को भुगतान किया जाएगा।

३ निगम की सभी सामाजिक सुविधाओ जैसे पेंशन इत्यादि से लाभ प्राप्त करने हेतु लाभार्थियों का निर्णय मोहल्ला सभा में ही लिया जाएगा।

४ निगम के कर्मचारी तथा अधिकारी जिनके सम्बन्ध में मोहल्ला सभा कीसदस्य शिकायत करेंगे, उन्हें मोहल्ला सभा की मीटिंग में आकर जनता को जवाब देना होगा।

यह अपमे तरह के देश में पहला प्रयोग किया जा रहा है।

आपके सहयोग से ही इसकी सफलता सुनिश्चित हो सकती है।

I have decided that municipal governance in my ward should be run with direct participation of the people.

To structure this exercise, I have divided the ward into 14 areas called mohallas. The collective assembly of voters of each mohalla is called mohalla sabha. Each mohalla sabha would meet every month. Meeting would be chaired by the ward councilor. Following decisions would be taken in the meeting:

1. How should councilor development fund be used? How should MCD spend its funds under various heads of expenditure in that ward? People would take these decisions in mohalla sabha meetings either through consensus or if consensus is not possible, through voting. Proposal receiving maximum number of votes would be on higher priority.
2. Payment would be made to a contractor only if mohalla sabha issues satisfaction.
3. List of beneficiaries for all government welfare schemes would be made in Mohalla sabhas in a transparent and participatory manner. If more applications for any scheme are received, then it would be discussed in mohalla sabha as who are the poorest of them all and these people would be given benefits.
4. MCD employees, with whom people complain problems, will be summoned by the councilor and presented in next mohalla sabha meeting to respond to people’s complaints.

I therefore, request you to kindly observe and implement the following. If needed, kindly issue necessary directions to your subordinate officials:

Please direct all your officials not to undertake any proposal without the sanction of affected mohalla sabhas. So, if you propose to carry out any work, please intimate me in sufficient advance so that I can seek mohalla sabha’s approval for the same. If people do not approve of it or if they suggest an alternate proposal or an alternate way of solving that problem, we shall follow people’s will.
Kindly direct your officials not to make payment to any contractor for any work carried out in this ward without a satisfaction certificate from mohalla sabha. So, whenever a wor is complete and JE is satisfied, kindly inform me of the same. I will present it in mohalla sabha to seek their approval.
Kindly direct your officials to be present at mohalla sabha meetings, whenever they are called upon to do so by respective mohalla sabha. I may request you also to be present sometimes to respond to people’s grievances.

I hope to get your support in this noble endeavour.