MEETA BHATTI talks to Nitai Mehta, PRAJA's head, who feels that Singapore is Singapore because if the rule says $100 for spitting, there's no getting around it. Unlike in India, where rules are meant to be bent or broken or got around by finding loopholes.

How is this charter different from what already exists?

Two years ago, India borrowed the idea of a Citizen's Charter from the United Kingdom and decided to apply it to service-providers here. Even Mumbai was asked to come up with one. But you need to see the present BMC charter to know the difference. It is a bulkydocument with formats for things like `how to get licence for a paan stall' -- an obvious menace these days. The much needed information about a complaint redressal system is missing. Our 32-page charter, on the other hand, will provide Mumbaiites with substantial data to help themselves. It will also give the BMC feedback on service efficacy and identify the officials who have gone wrong.

When did you first think of coming up with such a charter?

It was when I saw a copy of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation's charter in 1997. It was a localised document for south Delhi. That was the time that I was also doing social work in municipal schools, and the Tata Trust gave us Rs 10 lakh for three years.

Ironically, the BMC had a budget of Rs 300 crores, but when it falls short, the civic body comes up with schemes the likes of `adopt a child' and `adopt a tree'. People didn't realise that they are paying doubly -- through tax and adoption. There has to be some accountability somewhere. So, weapproached the BMC with the proposal in February, 1998.

How did you manage to get BMC involved?

The technicalities took the final version one-and-a-half years. Nevertheless, the fact that the Municipal Commissioner, K Nalinakshan, and the Mayor Hareshwar Patil have endorsed the charter is proof enough that they felt the need to raise the standard of public services and wanted to draw a clear line of responsibility. In fact, the BMC is looking forward to citizens using the charter so that it can know how effectively the public services meet their needs.

And the document will benefit people by...

... giving the names and telephone numbers of officials the various complaints should be addressed to. The charter has developed a three-tier complaint redressal system, where the first tier instructs the citizens to complain by directly using the hierarchy of the municipal administration, In case the complaints are not redressed satisfactorily, citizens can get in touch with the PRAJA networkgroup comprising six teams for six municipal zones. Through monthly meetings, these teams will keep the Deputy Municipal Commissioners informed about their zones. The third tier is the BMC-PRAJA partnership group, where PRAJA members will work with top officials to solve chronic problems. We are looking at 1,000 such problems daily to shake up the authorities.

What if problems are still not solved?

I doubt that. Because these monthly meetings will be followed by a meeting with ward officers every six months. This one will be a kind of report card making session. They can ignore us for the first time, may be the second too. But when it comes to elections, their respective parties probably won't give non-working members a ticket. It can take time, but it won't fail.

How can people obtain their copy of the charter?

The document was distributed with The Indian Express a week ago. It will soon be distributed with Loksatta and Jansatta. We are also working towards an arrangement where aprivate or nationalised bank would stock the charter at its reception counter and people could collect their copy for Rs 10 each.

For more information, contact: PRAJA Foundation, PO Box 16079, Colaba Post Office, Colaba, Mumbai-400 005.