Reader Surendra Kaushik brings to our notice a glaring instance of a blatant violation of the spirit of transparency by our own Pune Municipal Corporation.
(Reproduced from the page
`express initiatives¿, The Indian Express, July 24, 2002)
A wide cross-section of citizens, young and old, activists and just plain individuals, those active in upmarket neighbourhood like Bund Garden and those working in villages, responded to our appeal for a walk-in discussion on July 17 on the Maharashtra Right to Information Act. Some desired to know more about the legislation while some planned to file a query in the right format. They unanimously thanked The Indian Express for empowering them with the information they needed.
The state government has empowered citizens, by a legislation, to demand any information, subject to some exclusion clauses of course, from all government department and semi-government bodies including municipal corporations. Yet the bureaucracy does not seem to be enthusiastic in mending its ways. The competent authorities have not even acknowledged queries filed in proper format by at least three citizens, who have now been compelled to go in appeal to higher authorities.
Reader Surendra Kaushik brings to our notice a glaring instance of a blatant violation of the spirit of transparency by our own Pune Municipal Corporation that has been headed, ironically, by a series of competent and citizen-friendly commissioners. He points out that the civic body has ignored a four-year old directive from the state government making it mandatory for developers to display information boards at their construction sites.
In addition, we reproduce a chronology of the court proceedings in a civil suit filed by citizen Qaneez Sukhrani seeking a court direction to the municipal corporation to display boards at road work sites giving relevant information on the contract awarded for the work. A year and a half later, the Pune Municipal Corporation has not even submitted its statement on the citizen¿s plea.
Sir: I welcome the initiative taken by The Indian Express in enlightening the general public about the Right to Information Act. I am sure your endeavour will bring in qualitative changes in the government bureaucracy. For well over a year I have sent several representations by letter drawing the attention of civic authorities towards their obligation in having information boards erected at construction sites. In spite of a directive issued by the Government of Maharashtra four years ago on July 22, 1998, to this effect most builders and promoters have not display such boards at their construction sites and the civic body has not enforced the rule.
The information boards should include the following details:
1. Building construction commencement certificate number.
2. Total number of floors in the building.
3. Size of the plot area under construction.
4. Total Floor Space Index (FSI) permitted by the Pune Municipal Corporation.
5. Names, addresses of the architects and promoters/ builders of the construction.
6. Whether the construction is residential, commercial or any other.
The board should be displayed on construction sites and should remain until completion certificate is granted and obtained by the builders.
In absence of such boards, it is difficult to detect violations of building bye laws and other irregularities at early stages of construction. It is only when the construction nears completion that irregularities become visible, but by then corrective action becomes almost impossible. `Regularisation¿ of each illegal structure represents once more nail in the coffin of the principle of ``Rule of Law¿¿.