The three Mohalla Sabha meetings conducted by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Patparganj – the assembly constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, voted for three entirely different development projects for their localities – library, sewage system and CCTV cameras.
“The Mohalla Sabha meeting is sort of a ‘local parliament’ where you have all the rights to order the government and bureaucracy to redress their ‘local issues’ and sanction the projects worth Rs 40 lakhs. The officers who make the budget from within the confines of their offices have little idea about the specific needs and priorities of people at ground level. We are making an effort to give voting rights to people to choose projects according to their requirements in their localities,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while inaugurating the first Mohalla Sabha meeting of E-Block, West Vinod Nagar in Patparganj.
“If this succeeds, we will conduct such meetings in all the 70 assembly segments of Delhi,” added Kejriwal.
The people started gathering at the venue since morning, where they were provided with slips after verifying their names from voter list. These voters were provided with plain sheets of paper to write their suggestions on the budget, out of which, 11 projects were picked for voting.
“The suggestions and grievances are being transferred to concerned officers for redressal,” said Sisodia. The local government officers of all departments, along with senior government officers, including Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma were present in the meeting.
In the first Mohalla Sabha meeting, conducted by Sisodia himself, construction of library in the area - got a maximum of 230 votes, followed by construction of a dispensary. In the second Mohalla Sabha at the Sanjay Lake ground, the voters from Jawahar Colony voted for sewage system, followed by water connection. In the third Mohalla Sabha meeting held in a posh locality in Pocket F, Mayur Vihar, the voters opted for CCTV cameras followed by the tackling of stray dogs and monkeys.
“We will use Rs 40 lakh to fulfill the first priority of the voters and if left any of it is left, we would go for the second preferred project. Besides this, I will use my MLA LAD fund and budget from other departments to fulfill maximum possible demands of the voters raised in the meeting,” said Manish Sisodia.
He further emphasised that the first meeting is always a learning experience for the administration and for the leadership. “We have taken notes of the short-comings and a blue print would be finalised to conduct the rest of the Mohall Sabha meetings in a hassle-free manner,” said Kunal, District Magistrate of East Delhi.
The Deputy Chief Minister informed that the Patparganj constituency has been divided into 35 Mohalla Sabhas and experiences of these first three meetings would be used to conduct 400 Mohalla Sabha meetings in 11 out of the 70 assembly constituencies.