Published as -
“Citizen Driven Urban Development - An Analysis of the Bhagidari Scheme of the Delhi Government as a Citizen Interface Management Tool for Physical Planning”, Spatio-Economic Development Record, Vol. 14, No 1, January – February 2007
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In a three tier system of governance of Central (National), State and Local (Municipal - in urban areas and Panchayet in rural) the local government performs the vital task of implementation and delivery of services, which impact the lives of the people in a most direct way. While the upper tiers of the government are more deliberative and policy oriented in nature, it is the task of the local government to transform the policy to project. For a vast majority of the population, the local government is the face of the State – which provides the urban basic services - water supply, power, sanitation, roads. It is the only form of government which has direct interface with the people.
Despite the 74th Constitutional Amendment, which calls for empowerment of the municipalities in local planning, citizen involvement in planning or governance is far cry in India. In most cases the ritual of public consultation is observed by asking for objections or suggestions against a pre determined scheme, by placing an obscure advertisement in a local newspaper. In this scenario the Bhagidari concept of the Delhi Government came as a bright new public administration innovation and won instant international applause.
Though in administrative structure, Delhi Government is a State Government and not a local body in the strictest term, however being geographically limited to the National Capital Territory of Delhi, in function and spirit it acts a municipal government and in this context the Bhagidari model may be studied as an Urban Government – Citizen Interface model. While an entire gamut of government programmes -from polio vaccination to verification of tenants are covered under the Bhagidari, this paper highlights only the issues pertaining to physical planning.
2.0 CONCEPT
Bhagidari – literally means ‘collaborative partnership’ As a conceptual framework, it draws inspiration from the Gandhian concept of Panchayati Raj. It was launched by the Delhi Government as a Citizen – Government Partnership in January 2006. Conceptually, the Bhagidari partnership entails the following –
- Is a means towards facilitating citywide changes in Delhi
- Uses processes and principles of multi-stakeholders (Citizen Groups, NGOs, Government Department and executing agencies)
- Aims to develop joint ownership by the citizens and the government of the change process
- Facilitates peoples participation in governance
The stated goals of the Bhagidari are –
- Better services delivery to the citizens
- A clean and green Delhi
- A ‘hassle-free’ Delhi
- Partnership and participation of citizens in governance
- The people of Delhi should treat as their own: “My Delhi – I care”
Under Bhagidari, Workshops are organised to address and resolve quickly, the issues of common concern.
3.0 DIFFERENCE IN APPROACH
Planning in India continues to be a top-down approach, with negligible public participation. In most cases the ritual of public consultation is observed by asking for objections or suggestions against a pre determined scheme, by placing an obscure advertisement in a local newspaper, which few read and fewer care to respond.
In the case of Delhi, the multiplicity of authorities has created another bottleneck. While the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), is in charge of the Master Plan, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Commission (NDMC), Public Works Department (PWD), Delhi Jal Board (DJB – in charge of Water Supply & Sewerage) and privately owned Electricity Suppliers are also involved in planning functions.
Consequently, the twin barrier – lack of initiative of the planning agencies and multiplicity of authorities, had turned planning into a feudalistic exercise, away from the democratic principles of public participation. Except for the current spate of media reports, regarding court cases about Master Plan implementation and illegal structures, there is hardly ever, an informed public debate about the urban future.
In this situation, the Bhagidari initiative, brought with it two major steps towards democratisation of planning and governance –
· Bringing the government close to the people – The community or housing colony based Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), Markets and Traders Association (MTA), NGOs, local level political leadership (Municipal Councillors and Legislative Assembly members) and other stakeholders are actively involved in the Bhagidari. Participating government agencies and departments like DDA, MCD, DJB etc. sit together with the RWAs and MTA in locality based workshops organised as Large Group Interactive Events. The idea is – it is no longer the ‘ruler’ and the ’ruled’, but ‘together we solve the local problems’.
· Bringing the multiple agencies under a common platform – The multiplicity of agencies had led to procedural delays, tardy implementation, buck passing and harassment for the commoners. By bringing all stakeholders under one roof at the community level, the idea is to speed up pending decisions, check effectiveness of the services delivered, and act as a grievance redressal forum and finally create a listening post and feedback mechanism about higher level policy initiatives.
The above steps, has the potential of creating, ‘joint ownership’ of the city and a more desirable urban future for Delhi.
4.0 ISSUES TAKEN UP
The issues that have been taken up are simple and common issues that impact on a citizen’s everyday life. These are issues that are amenable to simple solutions. The idea is to build up on these first successes and to take the movement forward to addressing more complex matters. While most of the items are related to maintenance, and bill collection, the following are the items which have an impact on physical planning –
Issues related to Residential areas involving the RWA
- Water saving/waste conservation
- Community based Rain Water Harvesting
- RWAs role in internal colony sewage system
- Solutions on community bins
- Door to Door collection of Waste/Garbage
- Generation of public awareness on sanitation
- Prevention of encroachments
- Regulation of traffic through colonies
Issues related to Commercial and Industrial Areas involving the MTA
- Handing over of the estate / maintenance services to MCD in a time-bound manner
- Uninterrupted Power supply
- Adequate and potable water supply
- Setting up of Common Effluent Treatment Plants
- Clearance of encroachments in parks, and on roadsides and pavements within industrial area / estates.
- Provision of streetlights in the Industrial Estates.
- Removal of Slums / JJ clusters, encroachments on approach roads and pavements, etc.
- Rain Water Harvesting.
- Allotment of land to associations for administration of estate and provision of Post Office, Bank, Fire Station, R&D centre, tool room, etc.
- Categorisation of units by Delhi Pollution Control Board
- Industrial waste / solid-waste disposal
5.0 WORKING PATTERN
The Bhagidari concept, involves three broad steps. Which are –
- Problems and consensus building
- Implementation mechanism
- Monitoring of implementation
Step – 1: Problem Discussion and ConsensusBuilding
Workshops with citizen groups are held where representatives of citizen groups discuss the selected issues with officials of Public Utility Departments.
Each workshop are of two to three days duration. The participants are seated in a table-wise arrangement. Each table has 4 citizens (2 each from 2 citizen groups, viz. Residents Welfare Association or Market Traders Association) and 5-6 officials of Public Utility Departments. Care is taken to seat area officials of Public Utility Departments at the table where representatives from citizen groups of their area are sitting. In a workshop around 30-35 such table arrangements are made.
Each table group works on issues selected by the Design Team. The group discusses and builds consensus on solution of issue-based problems. Each stakeholder’s (including the citizen’s) role and responsibilities are identified and committed.
Step – 2: Implementation Mechanism
After the workshop, the RWA/MTA wise list of solutions is sent to concerned departments and Deputy commissioner (Revenue) offices. They hold regular meetings to implement and monitor solutions.
The Area Officers ensure a fortnightly meeting with their area RWAs. The District Officers of the public utilities monitor and co-ordinate the working of these Area Officers.
Step – 3: Monitoring of Implementation
Monthly reviews are taken by the Heads of Departments and the Deputy Commissioners. Quarterly reviews are taken by the Chief Secretary and the Steering Committee headed by Chief Minister.
6.0 FUNDING PATTERN
There is no separate funding mechanism for Bhagidari Schemes. The Bhagidari Programme envisages voluntary participation of the citizens. The Delhi Government gives institutional support by creating the ‘Bhagidari Cell’ in the Chief Minister’s office and by designating the General Administration. Department. as the Nodal Department to provide financial and administrative support. The ‘Bhagidari Cell’ has been coordinating the activities covered under Bhagidari as well as in conducting workshops.
A token amount ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 2000 are given to the MTAs & RWAs for printing of monthly newsletter and award scheme for best citizen group.
7.0 MAJOR INITIATIVES
Major initiatives under ‘Bhagidari’ have been taken up by the Government since January, 2002 are as follows-
- RWAs and MTAs have started taking up the collective payment of water bills by cheque on fixed date and time.
- 267 RWAs and 5 MTAs are actively participating in observing water leakage and noting them down in a special register kept by DJB. DJB has nominated 500 Water Wardens and 1500 Assistant Water Wardens from amongst citizen groups. They will be imparted specialised training to check and rectify water leakage through supply lines.
- RWAs and MTAs in most of the colonies are participating in the distribution of water through tankers.
- 140 RWAs have taken up Rain-water harvesting measures.
- 143 RWAs and 5 MTAs have voluntarily taken up participation in the replacement of old/leaking service pipes in their area.
- Delhi Vidyut Board had organised 16 camps under the Bhagidari scheme for load enhancement. The department received and processed 5279 applications generating a revenue of Rs.2.64 crores.
- Federation of I.P. Extension II Housing Societies (Regd.) Kiran Vihar, Delhi having 35 housing and Group Housing Societies as its members covering a population of more than 50,000 people is a major participant in Bhagidari. The Federation in active co-operation with Delhi Jal Board resulted in desilting of sewer lines in scheduled manner and the citizen’s complaints are attended to without delay or harassment.
- The Federation of Group Housing Societies, I.P. Extension started the meter reading scheme in the member RWAs with active co-operation of the concerned Zonal Officers of the Delhi Vidyut Board. This federation is one such Bhagidar which have implemented the meter reading scheme by the RWAs themselves. Under this programme, presently meter reading of around 23000 electric meters belonging to 22 RWAs is being done. The Delhi Vidyut Board paid the federation @ 2.00 per meter for the electric meter reading. The federation gives this money to the participating RWAs.
- Mayur Vihar Phase-I, Pocket-III Apartment Owners Association has been successful in solving the following problems under ‘Bhagidari’:-
i. The old and obsolete electrical panels of two sub-stations, and a transformer which were causing frequent break downs of power supply, were replaced quickly
ii. The street lighting of the area has greatly improved with the help of the member RWAs.
iii. The water and power supply in the area has improved tremendously.
iv. Cash counters were opened for Electric and Water Bills.
v. Camps for collection of property tax bills are being organised by MCD.
vi. The standard of sanitation and hygiene has become very satisfactory. The Sanitary Supervisor meets the RWA regularly in this regard.
- The Vasant Vihar Welfare Association is one of the founder Bhagidars. The association has successfully undertaken Rainwater harvesting project and recycling of used water. The association creates awareness among its residents through printing of posters, organising cultural programmes and seminars. Their successful implementation of the Rainwater harvesting project especially in the A-Block Nursery has become a model for the other RWAs to follow.
- After participating in the workshop for Market & Traders Association in July 2001, Prithviraj Market & Traders Association came forward to voluntarily take up the Anti-Plastic bags campaign in their market. The association printed the posters to create awareness among its member shops and offices and has been successful. The market no longer does give carry bags made of plastic to their customers.
- The Gaffar Market & Traders Association, Karol Bagh has undertaken the replacement of the generators in the shops in their markets as a step towards making the environment clean.
- Kalkaji Bhagidari Coordination Committee is successfully coordinating the Bhagidari activities of its 25 Residents Welfare Associations.
- Harijan Basti Sudhar Samiti, East Loni Road, Ashok Nagar has created awareness against use of plastic bags, AIDS and waste of drinking water by organising camps. The association has issued identity cards to the hawkers in their colony.
- Rainwater harvesting projects are increasingly being taken up by the RWAs. Some notable initiatives in this direction have been by the Bhagidars of Maharani Bagh Co-operative Housing Society, S-Block, Greater Kailash-II, RWA, Som Vihar RWA, Punch Shila Co-operative House Building Society Ltd. and Sector-3, Rohini, RWA
- Tree plantation projects have been very popular with the Bhagidars. Extensive plantation measures within the colonies have been taken up by the RWAs of Greater Kailash-II, Niti Bagh, Chand Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Federation of Group Housing Society, Patparganj, Delhi, Chetra Vikas Sangthan, Palam and Dilshad Garden Pocket-E.
8.0 CRITIQUE OF THE SCHEME
The apparently simple and well meaning scheme is not without controversies. According to a survey carried out by the Centre for Civil Society, Delhi, among 240 RWAs about effectiveness of the Bhagidari Scheme, the result is a mixed bag.
Table 1: Residents Satisfaction Index about the Workings of Civic Agencies under Bhagidari Scheme
|
Sl. No.
|
Department
|
Success
|
Failure
|
|
1
|
Delhi Jal Board (DJB)
|
74
|
26
|
|
2
|
DVB / DISCOM
|
73
|
27
|
|
3
|
MCD
|
40
|
60
|
|
4
|
DDA
|
43
|
57
|
|
5
|
Delhi Police
|
43
|
57
|
|
6
|
Environment & Forests
|
52
|
48
|
|
7
|
NDMC
|
71
|
29
|
*Data Source – Survey carried out by Centre for Civil Society. Sample Size of 240 RWA
The major controversies relating to the scheme are as follows –
- No Clear Political Hierarchy – The Bhagidari was started by the Delhi State Government, which did not go down very well with the elected Counsellors of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The MCD Counsellors felt that this was an unnecessary encroachment in their turf. With the State Government dealing directly with the RWAs and MTAs they felt threatened of their political role and therefore participates in a luke warm manner
Part of the crisis maybe traced back to the overlapping constituency of the Members of the State Legislature and the Counsellors of the MCD. Due to the unique constitutional status and administrative structure of the DelhiState, it is not in possession of control over major civic agencies like MCD, DDA or NDMC, which vests with the Central Government. Secondly one single municipal agency, the MCD represents over seventy percent of the population, therefore blurring hierarchy of constituency demarcation between an MLA and a Counsellor.
Under the present situation, there are 101 Wards in 12 Ward Committees under MCD. Thus each Ward Committee is managing a huge population of 6 lakhs and above – which can form a city by itself. The issue of unmanageable size of MCD and its Ward Committees assume additional importance from a related recent development. The Master Plan of Delhi (MPD-2001) has laid emphasis on Zonal Development Plans to cater to the different needs of Delhi.
- Inadequate Constitutional Basis – The Bhagidari Scheme empowers the local RWA and the MTA, which are not constitutional bodies. Many of the RWAs are involved in unlawful acts like digging of Borewells without environmental approval, permitting encroachments and non conforming activities, felling of trees etc.
“Bhagidari literally means partnership. Its declared purpose is to create a partnership between the departments concerned and the representatives of the RWAs, to ensure healthy governance. But the exact nature of the partnership has not been properly defined,” says Yogesh Khanna, president of the Forum of RWAs of Vasant Kunj, one of the biggest colonies of Delhi.
The RWAs are not constitutional entities and are set up under Societies Registration Act. Therefore, it is quite common to find multiple numbers of RWAs present in a single geographical entity (i.e Pocket of DDA flats or Group Housing Societies) and raising competitive claims. The election and accounting of the RWAs are often disputed.
According to news report, a senior official of the Chief Minister’s Office was quoted saying - “Ever since the scheme has been started, residents have started jostling for power among themselves. Every colony has two to three different RWAs. How can anything work? If the Bhagidari system has to work efficiently, the residents will have to stop quarrelling among themselves and do some work rather than justfinding ways to criticise us. The RWA elections are getting worse than the governmental elections.”
The Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies – the apex public body for the societies in Delhi, needs to streamline the functioning of the RWAs.
- Tool to Hide Civic Inefficiency – Aspects of administration which the Government handles with least satisfaction – sanitation, water distribution, street lighting etc., are handed over to the RWA / MTA while the inefficient bureaucracy continues to drain the exchequer. According to the critics, Bgagidari creates an illusion of power among the RWA/MTA but in effect hides the inefficiency of the civic departments.
The counter argument is that, the Civic Agencies are unable to manage the services delivery to the satisfaction of the customers (citizens), therefore it is essential that voluntary groups are involved. This is also in keeping with the spirit of democracy at the grassroots level, as envisaged by the Constitution 74th Amendment.
- Implementation Difficulties – RWAs and MTAs complain that despite assurances given during Bhagidari Workshop, the actual implementation is often difficult due to non cooperation of the lower lever civic officials. Some associations complain that departmental officers did not listen to them and resorted to slighting and even insulting them. In one case, certain associations complained that they were being compelled to come through the area Councilor or MLA in order to be heard.
S. S. Madan, a resident of Malviya Nagar and former Head of Department (HoD) of the CPWD, admits: “The complaints that residents have are not wholly baseless. It is quite true that the government officers have the ‘we-the-king’ attitude and they don’t want to get rid of it.”
“At meetings organised by some nodal officers, everybody wears a smile and the participants are given full freedom to give vent to their grievances in their own way. Nobody is lacking in courtesy and politeness and refreshment is liberally distributed, but because of various limitations and reservations, the actual removal of even minor grievances remains a wish unfulfilled,” says Mr Madan.
According to Kailash Pradhan, Secretary, Delhi Jan Kalyan Vikas Manch, “Bhagidari is political in nature and less practical. Only 33% of the discussed ideas are implemented.”
- Bureaucratic Wrangling – The clash between Delhi Government and MCD has already been discussed above. Apart from that, there are practical difficulties in bureaucratic level as well.
"There is no need for a large contingent of officials to attend such meetings. This affects the working of the MCD and execution of various developmental works. In turn, it provides an excuse to the Delhi Government to charge that the Corporation with not working effectively. This is the reason this activity had been curtailed," a senior MCD official remarked.
Mr Gulab Rai president of the Lajpat Nagar RWA says that the officials of MCD, DDA or Delhi Jal Board have a feeling that the residents are trying to usurp their powers. “Whenever we go to complain or try to organise meetings with them they say we are interfering in their job.”
- Not a Performance Measurement Model – Finally, in its present state, while it may be claimed that The Bhagidari Scheme, may have reached the status of a citizen interface and consultation model, it is far from being a Performance Measurement Model. A programme can be called successful only when its performance can be measured in terms of pre determined indicators.
Performance Measurement, while important everywhere, to improve the efficiency of the local government, is particularly relevant for the Indian cities, where implementation mechanism is week. The international donor agencies like the World Bank, UNDP or ADB are emphasising on performance measurement clause to improve the service delivery capability of the local government agencies while disbursing funds for the infrastructure projects.
Even the citizens of Delhi voice concern over lack of direct performance measurement. “The scheme should be made more performance oriented” say Raj Kumar Dimri, Member, Mayur Vihar Phase – III, Pocket –IV RWA.
9.0 CONCLUSION
In a country largely used to government dictated top-down approach to planning, the Bhagidari programme had made a welcome departure towards public participation.
Bhagidari had been able to achieve is to put the urban governance issues in centre stage. It had attracted the attention of UN and other International Development agencies as a positive development in urban governance.
But more importantly, Bhagidari had been able to grab space in mass media and people are debating the future of their city and the neighbourhood. This itself, must be acknowledged as a giant leap forward.
Secondly, the Bhagidari had created a sense of empowerment at the community level, which was absent earlier. It has created a meeting place – a forum for discussion, between the people’s representatives, the civic officials and the citizen groups.
However, in the present context, it can not be said with conviction, that the Bhagidari is a complete citizen interface model for urban planning, which can be replicated in other cities as well.
To take the movement forward, and Bhagidari to truly emerge as a tool for citizen driven planning, the next step function of Bhagidari should include two essential tasks –
- Involvement in Local Area Planning
- Performance Measurement
The Master Plan of Delhi (MPD 2001) emphasises Local Area Planning. The scope of the Bhagidari style of workshop and dialogue based public participation should be enhanced and institutionalised to in the Local Area Planning.
With a fast rising urban population putting continuous pressure on infrastructure, the civic agencies face a daunting task with restricted budget. On the other hand, lack of basic services makes the citizens constantly unsatisfied. Situation is more or less similar in developing cities across the globe. In this context, it is essential to include performance measurement tools, as an integral part of the Master Plans and the urban governance system as a whole.
Outcome-based urban management is not new phenomenon. Some U.S. cities have developed it over the past two decades; some states are beginning to; and countries such as Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand are on their way.
Sunnyvale, California, a city of 120,000 in the heart of the Silicon Valley, began the experiment 20 years ago. In each policy area, the city defines sets of "goals," "community condition indicators," "objectives," and "performance indicators." "In a normal political process, most decision makers never spend much time talking about the results they want from the money they spend," says City Manager Tom Lewcock. "With this system, for the first time they understand what the money is actually buying, and they can say yes or no."
In a typical citizen driven urban performance measurement system, goals and benchmarks are identified through public workshops. In the context of Delhi, the Bhagidari workshops it is possible to replicate these principles. Broad goal and benchmarks, thus established, can then be translated into agency specific objectives and parameters for each area.
Citizen driven performance measurement or enhanced public participation neither means dilution of the role of the professional planning agencies, nor an advocacy for majority imposition of the will without regard to the larger canvas of the city. The professional planning agencies should rather take the lead and become initiators and coordinators of the citizen interface workshops.
Only a continuous process of dialog between the planners and the community can bridge schism and create a better urban future.
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