ON December 14, a public hearing organised in the Sundernagari resettlement area of Delhi exposed the kind of inefficiency and corruption in the State administration and the local municipal authorities. The community investigation and social audit of works undertaken by the Engineering Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which was enabled by disclosures obtained under the Delhi Right to Information Act revealed that most of them existed only on paper.
This public hearing or jan sunwai, the first held on urban development expenditure after the new Act came into being, concerned Sundernagari and the adjoining New Seemapuri colony in East Delhi. It was jointly organised by Parivartan, a local citizens' initiative in Delhi, the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) of Rajasthan.
The local MLA and officials were at the receiving end. As one phantom project after another was revealed and held up to public scrutiny, the MLA angrily proclaimed his commitment to development and public welfare and denounced the `concoctions' of the organisers of the hearing. The executive engineer of the MCD called the allegations baseless. However, they had no answers to the probing questions from the members of Parivartan, supported by photocopies of records of works executed by the Engineering Department of the MCD, from April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2002. Although the MCD was reluctant to give the documents at first, it was left with no alternative because the Act contains penal clauses for denial of information. Parivartan disseminated the information amongst the residents of Sundernagari and New Seemapuri. It asked the residents to assess the claims recorded in the documents against the realities they encountered in their daily lives. This process revealed that the MCD's records of public works were, to a large extent, exercises in fiction.
After studying some 150 works amounting to a total contract value of Rs.2.5 crores, it was found that of some 29 handpumps supposedly installed, only 13 existed; out of 211 steel gratings supposedly installed, only 19 existed. Interestingly, the last time that there was a serious overhaul of civic amenities was in the 1980s when cholera struck the area.
The concept of a jan sunwai was institutionalised by the MKSS in rural Rajasthan. Born out of a struggle for land rights and minimum wages, it is driven by the conviction that participatory democracy rests on public access to information, which in turn ensures a basic minimum degree of transparency and accountability in governance. Initially, the MKSS' demands to see the muster rolls used in public employment programmes in Rajasthan were met with refusal on the grounds that these were "secret". This led them to come up with public hearings, where they read out and analysed official documents they had procured, either surreptitiously or by contacting officials who had no idea of their importance. Pressed for answers on the rampant corruption and defalcation of public funds, officials concerned often had no answer.
The growing pressure for accountability forced local officials and public representatives including those at maximum risk of public criticism to attend these jan sunwais. These proceedings were videotaped in order to bind the participants to their public commitments. Shifty logic and misinformation in the documents were immediately exposed. The documentation also proved that corrupt officials and others were siphoning away money and that minimum wages were being paid only on paper. The main strength of this approach was its power to demonstrate the relevance of public access to information.
Will a jan sunwai be contained to a mere ritual venting of public resentment, or does the very voicing of such anger have radical potential? "Jan sunwais should become a regular feature of civic life instead of settling into mere ceremony," said Justice P.B. Sawant, former Supreme Court Judge. "We have to create mohalla samitis (resident welfare bodies) to address everyday issues, to give meaning to RTI laws," said Arvind Kejriwal of Parivartan. This work has to be carried on by local residents who must exercise vigilance over information that affects their lives, he adds.
The Delhi Act envisages a fine of Rs.50 a day for delay in providing information. However, despite several outright violations, this provision has not been enforced even once. Like the MKSS hearings, the Sundernagari jan sunwai served to inform local residents and outsiders of the state of affairs, and demand answers and accounts of public money. "This jan sunwai has raised questions that the authorities cannot afford to ignore," said Kejriwal. "It will definitely rouse the department into action at least the officials will come prepared with answers to counter the tough questions and ensure a better showing at the next hearing."
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