Mumbai: Bring back Lokshahi Din, say activists

Civic administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal. File Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Citizens have been bereft of a public forum to air their grievances for three years, as the civic chief has not conducted since April 2020 Lokshahi Din - a monthly exercise where senior bureaucrats address the people's issues. Activist Sanjay Gurav filed a Right to Information (RTI) application on April 20, seeking information regarding how many times Iqbal Singh Chahal, the civic administrator, conducted the programme.

The administrator's office, in the RTI reply, claimed that the complaints it receive are forwarded to the department concerned. According to the document provided by the office, the former civic chief heard 88 cases in 2019. In 2020, he heard 46 cases from January to March. Chahal was appointed in May of that year. "Since the first COVID-19 lockdown was implemented, the BMC stopped conducting all kinds of physical meetings, including Lokshahi Din. But it seems the civic chief is still in lockdown mode," Gurav said.

He added, "Since the commissioner takes decisions directly on Lokshahi Din, complaints are disposed of immediately. The civic chief should think about people who have long-standing grievances. Even the BMC's tree authority did not conduct a public hearing regarding suggestions and objections to tree cutting. After the pandemic, the administration has eliminated a way to meet the common people."

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RTI activist Anil Galgali said, "Matters that are not resolved at the ward level only reach the commissioner level on Lokshahi Din. The civic chief is the last administrative hope for the redressal of grievances. It should be resumed soon. There are a lot of issues in the city that can be disposed of by the commissioner as he is the chief of the administration. The administrator must interact with citizens." Another civic activist, Godfrey Pimenta, said, "Interaction with the public is a requirement for administrators. Now, there is no corporation [public representatives] in the city. So, the common people only depend on civic officials."

History of Lokshahi Din

The state government decided to implement the concept of Lokshahi Din with the goal of resolving issues faced by the public. The idea was first implemented at the district-collector level in 1999. In 2007, the state government ordered all municipal commissioners to conduct Lokshahi Din. According to a state government circular issued on November 7, 2007, the exercise must be conducted on the first Monday of every month to ensure grievances are dealt with speedily.