लोकल एरिया सितिजें कोमित्ते (लचक)

Local Area Citizen Committee ( LACC )
BMC Initiative to come closer to the citizens.

Formation of Local Area Citizen Committees ( LACC ) ensures citizens participation through the involvement of Community based organization ( CBOs ) & NGOs in improving the delivery of civic services & improving the urban environment has been encouraged by the BMC through various mechanisms & schemes such as Advanced Locality Management ( ALM ) , Dattak Vasti Yojana , Online Complaint Management System ( OCMS ) , adoption of footpaths , playgrounds , gardens & also through construction , operation & maintenance of toilets.

Under the ALM setup local citizens groups can interact with the BMC officials once in a month at the ward office level. The meetings are chaired by Ward Officer & is attended by all the HODs of the ward.

In order to ensure delivery & proper monitoring of quality civic services with the full participation of community it has been found necessary to further decentralize the monitoring mechanism.

Based on the feed back about the urgent need to strengthen citizens participation with greater involvement of elected representatives & voluntary citizens groups in the improvement of the urban environment & delivery of civic services at the local level it has now been decided to create a decentralized mechanism for regular interaction between voluntary citizen groups representing a beat of 3 to 5 roads , elected councilors & municipal officials for achieving timely & efficient delivery of municipal services & bringing about a better physical environment at the local level by creating awareness among citizens about their civic rights & responsibilities.

LACC will be formed at the level of each Councilor ward to deal with the following subjects ,

a. Cleanliness & Garbage Collection.
b. Water Supply & Sanitation.
c. Regulation of hawking.
d. Safety of pedestrians & parking of vehicles.
e. Maintenance of roads , footpaths , storm water drains ( SWD ) including installation & maintenance of street furniture & bus stops & proper regulation of digging & re instatement of trenches excavated by utilities.
f. Roadside plantation & public gardens.
g. Disaster Management.
h. Any other matter relating to public safety , public health & public amenities as decided by the Committee.

The Committee will consist of the following ,

a. Ward Officer.
b. Municipal Councillor of the Ward.
c. Jr. Engg. ( Maintenance )
d. Jr. Engg. ( Water Works )
e. Jr. Overseer of Solid Waste Management ( SWM )
f. Jr. Overseer of Pest Control Office.
g. Representatives of Voluntary ALM of the areas selected by the Ward Officer for each beat in the Councillor Ward.
h. Voluntary Area Representative ( VAR )

The Ward Officer will act as the Convener of the Committee.

VAR will be selected by the Ward Officer of the ward for every beat consisting of a cluster of building on 3 to 5 roads. In each councilor ward there will be around 8 to 12 beats & each beat will be represented by a VAR. The Ward Officer will select VARs for beats other than those already represented by existing ALM groups based on the past record of their activities & their capacity & willingness to work with BMC to create awareness among citizens about their civic responsibilities & facilitate cooperation between citizen & civic officials in respect of the matters included within purview of the LACC.

Meetings of the LACC will be held at pre selected Municipal School buildings on alternate Saturdays & will be attended by the Ward Officer or his representative who is not below the rank of Assistant Engineer. The Ward Officer shall attend the meeting of every LACC at least once in a month & he may invite the officer in charge of the local police station , the traffic police & concerned officers of the BEST & other public & private utility services to attend meetings of the LACC to deal with issues concerning them whenever required.

Junior Engineer or Junior Overseer who is a member of the LACC will be made responsible by the Ward Officer to write the minutes of the meeting & submit the same to Ward Officer & to circulate to all the concerned departments / agencies for taking necessary action. He will also prepare action taken reports for the committees after obtaining reports from all concerned. The Municipal Commissioner will review the formation of the LACC & their functioning every month.

By Ashok Pai