NGO REPORT Water supply, drain issues rattle city

Mumbai: With civic elections round the corner, a report by NGO Praja.Org could be an eyeopener for corporators to know what the electorate wants. Based on complaints filed by citizens in the civic body and the perception of people after carrying out a survey, the NGO made public a list of problems that dog Mumbaikars. 

    Water supply and drainage complaints were top issues that troubled citizens between March 2008 and April 2011. Praja Foundation listed three top issues in the civic, health and education segments in Mumbai. The organization also conducted a perception survey of a sample population of 28,707 citizens. According to the survey, water-logging, pollution and corruption preoccupy citizens' minds. 
    According to the white paper, each ward has three top issues that citizens have been complaining about. Between 2008 and 2010, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received more than 48,000 complaints related to supply issues: 15,431 in 2008, 14,686 in 2009 and 17,916 in 2010. Of these, 4,250 (almost 9%) of the plaints are related to contamination. The others deal with supply shortage, pipeline leakage and connections being tampered with. 
    Between January 2008 and November 2009, there were 74,801 road-related complaints across the city's 27 wards. Licence complaints were 54,062 and water supply-related complaints were 52,501. The BMC also received 33,973 drainage complaints and 26,726 solid waste management complaints during the period. 
    In 2010, the highest number of citizens' complaints registered—around 41,547—was road-related, such as badly surfaced streets, fallen trees and potholes. This was followed by 28,670 citizens' complaints on water supply, 19,020 on licences, 18,085 related to solid waste management and 13,604 on drainage. 
    "The onus of tackling these issues rests on the next lot of elected representatives," said Nitai Mehta, founder trustee of Praja Foundation. "Elected representatives must understand their role is to ensure that the administration addresses the grievances. It can happen if they have data, attend meetings and ask probing questions."