RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY

Effectiveness of the citizens’ forum

  • Regular fortnightly meetings are being held in Sehore and citizen forum became very active for taking up the issues with Municipal Corporation and district officials. They have also deepened the process and formed ward level committees with about 12 members each to expand their base and reach.
  • Citizens conducted ward level meetings with the Municipality and the President of the Council in 8 wards of Sidhi town. Many hand pumps were repaired and water scarcity during the summer was sorted out with the help of Municipality.
  • The functioning of the district hospital has completely improved due to volunteering of many youths in the hospital. The process has the ownership of the district collector and approximately 50 volunteers are giving regular time to the district hospital. As a result, many patients who were either not getting the medicines or benefits of schemes like Janani Suraksha Yojna, earlier are immensely benefited. Rogi Kalyan Samiti i.e; Patient Welfare Committee is very active and volunteers are providing services guidance or connecting the patients to the relevant authorities/ doctors for information or complaints.
  • In Ajaygarh, citizen forum has been formed with members representing business community, lawyers and doctors. They have raised the issue of absence of the proper funeral ground in the town. They are likely to get a land allotted for the same. Regular meetings have been held and citizen forum is represented by different sections of the society.
  • In Seoni, civil society organizations engaged the citizens and took up the issue of pollution in the pond. They are following it up with the Municipal authorities of Seoni and district administration.
  • In Bhopal, one of the existing associations like Senior Citizen Association Forum, mostly of eminent retired civil servants or public sector employees, has been sensitized to take up urban governance issues. Student’s association ‘Bharat Uday Mission’ constituted by the students of engineering and Law Institute were sensitized on the issues of urban governance and Municipal functions using RTI to influence transactions of public works in a transparent manner.

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