After BMC ’s e-governance app MCGM 24X7 fails pothole test, its website mcgm.gov.in

fares no better

Thakur Village

PHOTO BY NILESH WAIRKAR

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta

Glitch is, city has nowhere to report potholed roads

TV presenter Kanchan Nath

Glitch is, city has nowhere to report potholed roads

Bhavesh Purohit had only good things to say about the BMC’s promptness in addressing complaints. That endorsement, however, lasted less than a day.The Kandivali resident reported a bad patch of road inon the BMC’s website — mcgm.gov. in — earlier last month. The following day, he was notified that the complaint had been forwarded to the assistant civic engineer (maintenance) of the ward and action had been taken.Equal parts surprised and full of cheer, he set off for work and found that the road was still the same. He registered a complaint again. And twice more. Each time, the complaint was promptly closed with the notification: ‘Action taken’, and each time, the road was left untouched.Days after Mirror’s test drive exposed how the BMC’s e-governance app — MCGM 24X7 — is an utter failure in resolving civic complaints, many residents have come forward with their own exasperating attempts to raise complaints via the website as well as the app.Purohit says he registered his first complaint on July 4. Two days later, he called the BMC’s bluff in another complaint. He waited till July 11 to make one more complaint and another the next day.Peeved with civic officials’ “fraudulent actions”, he shot off an email on July 12 to“I am disappointed… I think things could change and this can only happen if people at the top start shaking things up. I have been an active citizen and will keep complaining about this lane and many other issues in this city. As of now, this is a movement to get this lane fixed and I will not stop,” read his email.Mehta forwarded the letter to the ward officer concerned, but despite his intervention, the Thakur Village road has not yet been repaired.Asked about the inaction on Purohit’s complaint, Vinod Chithore, chief civic engineer (roads), says he is not aware of individual experiences, adding that the BMC wants more such feedback to improve the user interface of the app and the website.“We want more transparency and accountability in the BMC’s operations,” he asserts.The MCGM 24X7 app is just as frustrating. In our July 25 report, we had highlighted how our reporters tried submitting complaints about potholes outside the Khar railway station, Bandra Railway Colony, and the Andheri regional transport office, but the app did not work even once.Social activist Deepika Godinho says she has not been able to register on the app despite several attempts. “I have tried doing this from different places and at different times, and yet, I have not been able to. The idea of the app is to enable people to make complaints on the go.”Chembur resident Rajarshi Nath, who has taken up many civic issues since his mother,, died after a branch of a tree fell on her near their home on July 20 last year, calls the app “a shameless fraud”. “I registered a complaint on the app on July 9 and the next day, I got an email about it being resolved. I was surprised at the quick turnaround, but on visiting the site, I felt cheated. There was no change in the road’s condition. I have raised many complaints thereafter, but there is still no action,” he says.Chitore says once a “substantial” number of complaints on the app’s failure is submitted, the BMC will send them to the IT department to fix the bugs with the app.