In a first-of-its-kind directive, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi has asked officials to ensure there is no delay in clearing files. In clear directions on Monday, he told civic officials that files should not move beyond "four tables."
The directions assume significance as citizens have been complaining that civic officials take a long time to clear files that keep moving from one table to another at a snail's pace. Also, activists alleged that many a time, files are deliberately kept piled up and cleared only after citizens grease the palms of officials.
"From a lower division clerk to a higher official, everybody looks for some gain. And that is the reason in government or civic offices, files are deliberately piled up," said Maruti Bhapkar of the Aam Aadmi Party, welcoming the PCMC chief's decision. Another activist, Sachin Godambe, said civic officials or clerks deliberately pick holes in files submitted or demand documents that are not mandatory.
"If a citizen says, he or she cannot produce the documents demanded, civic officials threaten to reject his file. So in this case, citizens are forced to pay money which they are not supposed to," he said and called Pardeshi's action a much-required step. Former corporator Sopan Londhe welcomed the move, stating it was in the larger interest of citizens.
When contacted, the PCMC chief said, "The government has made an amendment to the Maharashtra Mahanagarpalika Act. According to the new law, files in government or civic offices should not move beyond four tables," he said. Pardeshi said the current practice is that files move at least among seven tables. "There are numerous employees supposed to go through the files. In this system, some officials simply put their assent without bothering much about contents of the files. Therefore, unnecessary assent has been eliminated," he said. Henceforth, Pardeshi said, files would move to a limited but important civic functionaries.
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