Hundreds of staffers visit Citizens Facilitation Centres at ward offices, the HQ to pay various bills and fees; only two BMC staffers were found to be manning the centres on Monday
Various licence fees, property tax, water bill are some of the payments made by citizens at the centres. Representation pic
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has terminated the contract for running Citizens Facilitation Centres across its 24 ward offices and the headquarters, thus throwing the operations at ward offices out of gear. The centres see hundreds of people turning up every day to pay their license fees or collect death or birth certificates. However, on Monday, there was complete chaos.
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According to corporators, the civic corporation's administration failed to plan in advance before taking such a drastic measure as there were just two staffers from BMC's finance department manning the centres on Monday. Those who wanted to renew their licenses were either turned back or were asked to wait for hours. The centres are where citizens pay water bills, property tax and other such services.
Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party MLA and a corporator, said, "When I visited the ward office on Monday, there was a lot of chaos and just two employees were sitting there to man the centres. Many citizens were turned back due to the unavailability of staff and all of this was because of no planning by the civic body." However, civic sources revealed that the contract was terminated owing to the contractor's non-performance issues.
BMC's Chief Accountant for the Finance department could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
24
No. of municipal wards across the city
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