Citizens’ groups root for open data policies

Times of India: Puna: Monday, September 16, 2019.

Citizens’ groups pushed for open data policies to enable good governance in smart cities.

At a meeting of flat owners and housing societies on Sunday, Sudhir Deshmukh, as member of the Pimpri Chinchwad Cooperative Housing Societies Federation’s legal committee, said open data policies need to be implemented by the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic bodies while developing smart cities.

Deshmukh suggested the civic administrations take a leaf out of former US president Barack Obama’s book in ensuring transparency by making governance more accessible through open data. “An open data policy is mandatory for smart city governance. Such a policy needs to be implemented to the fullest. Raw transactional data should be included in the policy, whatever be the format,” he said, adding that this was especially important for taxes being levied for smart city work.

In the three-hour meeting, other residents and activists discussed drawing up a charter of demands highlighting issues being faced by flat buyers and housing societies. In a few days, the charter will be turned into a manifesto, which will be submitted to different political parties. The “manifesto” will deal with issues concerning development projects, builders, amenities, water supply, garbage disposal, roadwork, etc.

Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch explained how housing societies could effectively use the Right to Information (RTI) and Right to Service (RTS) Acts. “The biggest problem today with the information office is that there is a huge pendency, of about 40,000 cases, of the second appeal. Ideally, a process that should be completed in about 30 days now takes around 900 days,” Velankar said.

Velankar also said there was a need for power distribution company MSEDCL to be more accountable and responsive. “Municipal corporations should not be sanctioning building permissions without adequate MSEDCL infrastructure in the area,” he said.

Meanwhile, activist Ravindra Sinha of the Baner-Pashan chapter of Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), said the Municipal Corporation Act needs to be updated. Stressing on the need for proper implementation of Area Sabha rules, he said, “Corporators and ward members should be part of the ward committees. Citizens should meet at least once in three months and resolutions need to be acted upon.”

He added there was a need to strengthen the Amenity Space rules under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP) Act as well. “There are around 1,200 amenity spaces across Pune. However, nobody knows where these spaces are. PMC should put up signboards providing information about these spaces,” he said.