The Hindu 17.11.2009
Decisions of PCMC bodies now posted online
PUNE: Citizens in Pimpri-Chinchwad can now access online the decisions taken by the standing commitee and the general body (GB) of the municipal corporation.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's (PCMC) facility will allow the public to easily access information about draft policies and development programmes to be implemented. The information is available on the civic body's website, pcmcindia.gov.in. Incidentally, the Pune Municipal Corporation began a similar practice a few months ago.
At the click of a button, PCMC residents can now see the agendas for the monthly GB meetings and the weekly standing committee meetings. Minutes of earlier meetings are also being posted online. The details will be provided in Marathi. Besides, the agendas of the law, women and child welfare, sports and the four zonal committees are being made available since the last two months.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the GB meetings are held around the 20th of every month, while the standing committee meets every Tuesday. The standing committee takes decisions on all policy issues, including financial matters.
Municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said: "The move is aimed at bringing in transparency in the functioning of the municipal corporation. Providing information to citizens is part of the state-level commitment under the administrative reforms of the JNNURM.''
The PCMC has also begun providing information about the 44 main civic departments. The section titled Information' under RTI on the PCMC website has details of information officers, along with their office telephone numbers and email addresses. Another section provides information about the annual civic budget, as well as information related to the town planning department.
Welcoming the move, civic activist Vijay Kumbhar said the public would immensely benefit from the information. "Earlier, an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act had to be filed to obtain these details, which was time-consuming," he said. Kumbhar, however, stressed that the information should be regularly updated and that citizens too should make the best of this facility.
The PCMC, as part of its administrative reforms, had earlier introduced online facilities for payment of property and water tax, applying for building permissions, registration of complaints pertaining to civic services and submission of tenders. In addition, two innovative online services were also been rolled out one to inform the corporation about potholes, and another by which citizens can know whether garbage has been lifted from their neighbourhood bin that day.