The Indian Express            24.10.2013

PCMC’s Sarathi helpline gets 10,000 calls in 67 days

The Sarathi helpline of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has drawn good response from citizens with the helpline receiving as many as 10,000 calls in 67 days since it was launched in August.

Sarathi, a brainchild of Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi, was launched to help citizens collect information on various civic departments, rules and regulations, and register civic complaints.

"In 67 days, over 10,000 calls have been received at the call centre and more than 27,000 hits registered by the helpline's website. This calculates down to an average 150 calls and about 400 web hits per day," said the civic chief, who is personally monitoring the functioning of the helpline.

While the initiative has drawn praise from citizens, it has not managed to convince corporators.

At the standing committee meeting of the PCMC recently, corporators lamented that when they take up problems of citizens with the civic administration, there is little response. But when citizens register their complaints on the helpline, they are addressed at the earliest.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had recently written to the municipal commissioner praising the functioning of the civic body.

In the letter, he said he appreciates the initiatives like e-governance and Sarathi which are aimed at helping citizens. Pardeshi said Sarathi is aimed at making civic functioning citizen-friendly.

The Indian Express            24.10.2013

Mobile collection vehicle turns MC staff into family counsellors

While the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has tried to be innovative by launching mobile collection of property tax, actually the move has turned MC employees into family counsellors who are mostly being called by elderly people in the city.

When the MC team reaches their home, the elderly start discussing their family problems with them. In turn the employees too try their best to help them and give suitable advice.

Among the 17 who have called the van and paid tax is former vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University M S Aulakh, according to MC sources.

"Most of the people just call and enquire but show no interest in calling the vehicle and pay tax. In some cases, they call us but when we reach there, they change their mind and say they need more time to think," said Harmeet Singh, an MC employee.

What has surprised MC employees is that how elderly people who call them readily discuss their family problems with them and seek solutions. "In most cases, we have been called by elderly above 80 years of age. They are highly depressed because of misbehaviour by their children and other family issues. They ask us for advice and seek solutions. They just open up to lighten their hearts and we listen patiently. They pay tax as well," said Singh, adding that "we try to give them the best advice we can".

"They start asking us how to get their homes free from erring sons, tenants and how their son misbehaves with them and threatens to throw them out of home. All we can do is listen," said another MC employee.

The vehicle was launched on October 3 with the helpline number 97800-10452. So far, it has visited only 25 houses and collected Rs 29,000 as property tax.

The response, as per the MC, is quite low compared to what was expected before launching the vehicle. "There is no problem with our service but people are opting for online return filing and thus less number of people are calling this vehicle," said P S Ghuman, zonal commissioner B, heading the property tax department.

Rs 3.71 crore from 4,500 payers

Property tax collection has shown a disappointing trend despite various efforts like door-to-door collection drives in collaboration with HDFC Bank, online return filing facility and mobile vehicle facility. The MC has collected only Rs 3.71 crore from 4,500 payers. The van has been called by 25 residents. Out of them, 17 have paid the tax and collection from the van stands at Rs 29,000.

This, despite the government giving a rebate of 10% in property tax till November 30. While earlier Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria had said that the MC was eyeing a minimum of Rs 20 crore under rebate till November 30, on Wednesday he denied having any such targets. "We have no such targets as through the media we have come to know that the government is again going to do some modification and further reduction in property tax. So it is all a mess at present and we have not decided on any target collection," the mayor said.