Don’t complain, participate: Leaders tell Mumbai residents

Participate in civic issues to understand the system instead of expecting corporators to solve all your problems — this was the unanimous message of aspiring BMC representatives to residents.

At the fourth interaction held by DNA as part of its My Locality My Voice campaign for residents of K Ward (east) and K Ward (west) wards on Saturday, political party representatives insisted that residents will have to shoulder some responsibility, too.

At the meeting, the resident's got frustrated and demanded fast delivery of promises. The elected representatives, on the other hand, argued, that citizens should be just as involved. "It is not possible for one corporator to rush every time, say a resident cannot flag down a rickshaw. There are various helplines and complaint redressal systems available. They are effective and residents should try to use them," said Parag Alavani, general secretary of BJP.

Sharing Alavani's view, the Congress MLA of the area, Krishna Hegde, too, asked residents to be better citizens. Discussing on the issue of spitting, Hegde said, "When I sat in a gondola in Venice, and someone spat into the river water, the boatman objected saying that people aren't allowed to spit into his home."

He added, The issue of better citizen participation was first brought up by the city's first citizen corporator, Adolf D'Souza. D'Souza said a lot can be done if the corporators and residents work together. "It is important that people work with their corporators instead of just complaining."