When work gets delayed, and their voices go unheard

Before the arrival of the monsoon Dharavi residents started setting up a drainage line to prevent sewage water from entering their homes While itrsquos the BMCrsquos duty to execute such tasks the inordinate absence of corporators has left them with no choice but to take matters into their own handsResidents have no hope in the BMC as officials have been turning a deaf ear to their repeated complaints They finally crowdsourced the money to fund the effort themselves Such stories are commonplace in every slum due to the absence of corporators since March 2022Members of 21 families residing in Sai Garden Chawl opposite Dharavi bus depot contributed Rs 1500 each to pay for the cement and tiles for the drain ldquoI used to do masonry work in my village and thatrsquos how Irsquom fixing it otherwise that would have been another expenditurerdquo said Naushad Shah an electricianSewage problemResidents claimed that the sewage problem has persisted for three to four months creating a health nuisance Now the rains have exacerbated the situation ldquoEarlier we used to contact the corporator but now every official passes the buck We complained to the local MLA and G North ward office but they said no funds are availablerdquo Shah saidMuzib Atique Govandi residentResidents have also complained that human faeces have entered the homes at timesldquoWhen it rains in the middle of the night children wake up a couple of times to help their families clear the water from their homes This impacts our concentration in classrdquo said Shifa Khartoon a young girl who lives in the slumlsquoCorporators essentialrsquoMuzib Atique who resides in Govandi said ldquoWe need corporators They are our voices This area is a slum We face various problems here every day involving public toilets roads garbage and water The level of education among the citizens here is negligible Therefore they are less likely to appeal to the administrator to solve their problemsrdquoSai Garden Chawl opposite Dharavi bus depot which is plagued by flooding and sanitation issues PicsRian KhoranaHe added ldquoEven now we are facing problems We meet civic officials many times to solve them We donrsquot get a good response at all times and dealing with civic officials is timeconsuming Corporators are the medium between the administration and citizens They play a vital role especially in the slum areardquoDinesh Sharma from Bhandup West echoed these sentiments ldquoWe face water supply issues We met various civic officials but the matter has not been resolved It is not possible for ordinary citizens to leave their job and meet civic officials daily As corporators are also residents one can meet them anytime Also as they wield democratic powers they help solve most local issuesrdquo said SharmalsquoContact with BMC betterrsquoIn Neel Kanteshwar chawl at Mankhurd which has legal status residents have to cook food near a gutter where mosquitoes breed To prevent water from entering their homes they have spent from their own pockets to remedy the situation as their kids were being affectedShifa Khartoon a resident of Sai Garden Chawl retired BMC officer Anand Jagtap and Rajhans Tapke a resident of Versova KoliwadaOne of the community leaders Rajendra Khandagle said ldquoThe BMC and courts have passed an order to fix these issues but if the corporator was still in charge it would not have happened They visited once or twice after several complaints were made Direct contact with the BMC is better However its been three months since the order has been passed but action is yet to be takenrdquoDeepak Prabhu a resident of the Koldongri locality in Andheri said ldquoWe have been facing water shortage for the last four to five days We called our local excorporator and though he is not officially responsible he tried to contact the BMC officers concerned Instead of making the rounds of the ward office or dialling helplines in vain going to the local corporator proves fruitfulrdquolsquoThey are part of democracyrsquoRajhans Tapke a resident of Versova Koliwada has a different viewpoint ldquoThere is not much difference in our daytoday life even if there are no corporators Yes some issues are not solved but they were not even solved by corporators in the past However it should not be said that corporators should not exist They are a part of democracy Corporators are needed for many tasks like making civic policies citizenorientedrdquoAnand Jagtap a retired BMC officer on special duty in charge of slum sanitation and solid waste management alleged ldquoSome corporators give more importance to contractors than the common public Communitybased organisations CBOs were created in 1997 under the BMC so that community members could participate in the problemsolving process But some corporators pressured their party workers in CBOs to take control over resources such as public toiletsrdquoJagtap added ldquoOnly if people from the slum are stakeholders and take up ownership of operations and maintenance things can change as they know the topography and issues of the people better The majority of corporatorsrsquo and MLAsrsquo funds are put into slums but we donrsquot see the impact on environmental sanitation and results as contractors are in charge of the work They hire unqualified workers and do not take action even in case of poor work Administrative officers also have the same approachrdquoSocial workerrsquos opinionOn the other hand Vishal Salunkhe a social worker who currently works in the field of nutrition said ldquoAs social workers we sometimes require a hall to address our beneficiaries Corporators allow us to use them free of cost Using a hall usually costs R10000 a day in a place like Dharavi outside it is even morerdquoHe added ldquoIf we want to help a specific member of the community and cannot locate them their volunteers help us We are managing somehow in the absence of corporators but their presence makes the process more efficient and fasterrdquo21No of families that raised funds for drainage lineWhy elections are delayedThe terms of civic bodies ended in 2020 Holding elections back then was not possible due to COVID and the state government decided to appoint municipal commissioners as administrators In March 2022 the term of the Mumbai and Thane civic bodies ended Around 23 municipal corporations across the states are without corporators Two cases related to civic polls are pending in the Supreme Court The polls canrsquot be held unless they are decidedReaders respond Pervyyn KavaranalsquoBMC corporators are rarely visible to citizens Their absence has made a positive difference to the exchequer The populace prefers to contact ward officers to resolve their woesrsquoMelville X DrsquoSouzalsquoKudos to midday for focusing on the functioning of the BMC in the absence of corporators lsquoDo you miss themrsquo is a very pertinent question but the answer is no In fact corporators are a drain on the economy The ideal thing should be for every ward officer to be made responsible for the upkeep of his ward without partialityrsquoMaya Hemant Bhatkarlsquomiddayrsquos new series is welcome It is amusing that the BMC has been running without elected corporators for more than a year and people are compelled to reach out to ward offices where they are shooed away Corporators are a bridge between citizens and the administration and they are requiredrsquoIqbal Gilani MansurilsquoThe councillor is a mediator between the people and the corporation but social media and BMC apps have made it very easy to interact with the civic officials and get work donersquoTweet talkMunnaKaSwamiBolaWe definitely need corporators but they should be welleducated graduates They must also possess basic info on politics and the duties and jobs to be performed by public representatives They should not be puppetsGlobal Citizens ForumThey are not missed at all Just another layer of bureaucracy created by Britishera administrationMinalKBhatiaOfficers are doing their work diligently In fact there is less headache of taking other 100 permissionsHarshad Vikhe PatilThe absence of elected representatives in wards is causing inconvenience in resolving daytoday governance issuesVMPworldNeither do citizens miss corporators nor do they know that the BMC has been run by an administrator for a year now Whether or not there is a corporator the bottom line is that no one hears citizens