Keep a tab on your representative at a click

All this and a lot more information about your local councillor,Member of Parliament and MLA will soon be available to you at a click of your mouse.

* 84 corporators from Shiv Sena posed 309 pertinent questions in the BMC ward committee and standing committee meetings.
* The number of FIRs filed from K West and P north wards are disproportionately large compared to any other ward.
* After respiratory problems and fever,BMC run-hospitals report highest incidences of diarrhoea.

All this and a lot more information about your local councillor,Member of Parliament and MLA will soon be available to you at a click of your mouse. In an attempt to give more teeth to citizens activism,NGO Praja foundation on Monday launched a unique website,www.praja.org,to monitor work done by elected representatives for their constituents and to give a platform to citizens to get their voice heard. Such an interactive website has never been thought of anywhere in the world. We are using Internet to reach to a larger audience. Internet usage has increased dramatically over the years especially among the youth and the middle class, said Nitai Mehta,founder trustee of Praja foundation.

The website will be updated every four months and will display the development work taking place in each ward in key areas like education,health,civic issues and crime. It will also display profile of each MLA and MP. Everyone will be able to know the attendance of councillors in forums like Standing Committee,House meets etc. The questions asked by them and also how they have spend the money allocated to them, said Mehta. The foundation has collected this detailed information through the Right to Information Act.

Citizens can use the website in two ways: register their needs and complaints. Each ward will have different needs and complaints. People can register keeping their locality in mind. They can also find out what are the issues faced by other wards, said Mehta. Not only this,even the elected representative can put their messages,replies or their opinions. The idea is to facilitate a two-way communication process. We want to give them every chance to make their stand or work known, said Mehta.

Mayor Shubha Raul welcomed the initiative and said,Such a platform is the need of the hour. We need a platform to facilitate citizens participation in day-to-day governance. Greater transparency will enable the elected representatives to do a better job, said Raul.

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Mumbai