Don’t keep people waiting,don’t move files beyond 4 tables: Pardeshi

“From a lower division clerk to a higher official,everybody looks for some gain. And that is the reason in government or civic offices,files are deliberately piled up,” said Maruti Bhapkar of the Aam Aadmi Party,welcoming the PCMC chief’s decision. Another activist,Sachin Godambe,said civic officials or clerks deliberately pick holes in files submitted or demand documents that are not mandatory.

“If a citizen says,he or she cannot produce the documents demanded,civic officials threaten to reject his file. So in this case,citizens are forced to pay money which they are not supposed to,” he said and called Pardeshi’s action a much-required step. Former corporator Sopan Londhe welcomed the move,stating it was in the larger interest of citizens.

When contacted,the PCMC chief said,“The government has made an amendment to the Maharashtra Mahanagarpalika Act. According to the new law,files in government or civic offices should not move beyond four tables,” he said. Pardeshi said the current practice is that files move at least among seven tables. “There are numerous employees supposed to go through the files. In this system,some officials simply put their assent without bothering much about contents of the files. Therefore,unnecessary assent has been eliminated,” he said. Henceforth,Pardeshi said,files would move to a limited but important civic functionaries.

The civic chief said he has directed officials to ensure that emergency files are cleared as early as possible. “If some files are very important,they should be cleared in a day. But civic officials have to ensure no files are kept pending for more than 45 days,” he said. Pardeshi said he has directed officials to ensure that a citizen is told at the first stage about corrections or documents required.

“Many a time it happens that a citizen is told in the middle or at a later stage about documents required. This leads to wastage of time and effort. Civic officials have been told to ensure citizens are helped at the first stage itself in submitting relevant papers or documents,” he said.