One-stop civic redress centres on cards

Ranchi: Chief minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday announced that all the 53 wards in the capital would soon boast a one-stop centre each to take care of public needs so that residents no longer have to do the rounds of the RMC office.

The plan, Das said, is to launch a model of decentralised civic governance on a pilot basis in Ranchi and if the same is successful, extend it to all urban local bodies in the state.

"In the process, there will be people's representation in civic upkeep. Each ward committee will be headed by its councillor and have local residents as members. Their job will be to collectively work for development of a ward," he said.

The one-stop centres, Das explained, would offer various services - such as issuing birth and death certificates or facilitating payment of power bills - for a token fee.

"The ward committee will be virtually linked to the head office. The entire operation will be online," the CM said, addressing a gathering at the daylong workshop on Swachh Survekshan 2019 at Project Building.

The workshop, organised by the urban development department, also marked the start of state preparedness for next year's national sanitation survey.

Das said the focus wasn't just scoring a good rank, but aiming at sustainability to make India completely open-defecation free by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

In the run-up to Gandhi Jayanti next month, Das also read out a to-do list for his men.

"September 15 to October 2 will be observed as a Swachhta hi Seva campaign in the country. The PM will roll out the nationwide campaign. On each day, every public representative will have to spend an hour in seva (service) to achieve cleanliness," the CM said.

From September 17 to 25, the health department will set up medical camps in slum areas across the state and also screen a documentary. " Chalo Desh ke Liye Jeete Hain is a motivational film on our PM," Das said, prompting some in the audience to murmur "chunavi kehla (election gimmicks)".

Urban development minister C.P. Singh said the need of the hour was more than cleaning streets and toilets. "The focus is on changing people's attitude for the success of the mission."

The programme also feted 17 urban local bodies (ULB) that were recently re-certified by the Quality Council of India for sustaining their ODF status.

Urban development secretary Ajoy Kumar said the 2019 survey would carry 5,000 points. "Last time, 41 ULBs had taken part. Next year, all 44 will," he said.

Those present during the workshop included civic representatives and city managers. They were later briefed on the technical modalities of the upcoming survey.

Minister Singh said similar workshops would soon be held at district level.

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