NEW DELHI: With most residents' welfare associations ( RWAs) now behaving like quasi-authorities, there is one that remains cast in the old mould. The RWA in R-block, New Rajendra Nagar believes that civic agencies—not tax-payers—should be made accountable for services. It collects a nominal annual membership of Rs 100 from residents but tries to get them all essential services by building pressure on the civic agencies concerned.
"All we collect from a household is the annual membership fee. The RWA is not there to collect maintenance charges—that is the job of civic utilities. Our job is to ensure they do theirs. Residents already pay for basic services through taxes, and water and power bills, so why should anyone pay more?'' said D M Narang, general secretary of the association.
The RWA takes its task quite seriously. "Household trash is collected by auto tippers every morning. There is also a dhalao nearby where garbage is collected routinely. The 33 parks in the locality are maintained by the municipal corporation or individuals," said Narang, adding, "we try to get the work done by civic agencies on behalf of the residents. A large part of DJB's bill is sewer charges, so whenever there is a sewer related problem, we ensure DJB does the work".
The RWA gets the area discom, which maintains streetlights on behalf of the corporation, to keep them in order. For security, households pool in to hire guards for their lane while the RWA takes up problems with the local police.
Recently, the RWA has moved a proposal to increase the annual membership from Rs 100 to Rs 500. "There are approximately 1,100 houses in R-block. We do not pressure anyone to pay the membership fee, people pay willingly,'' said Narang.
"All we collect from a household is the annual membership fee. The RWA is not there to collect maintenance charges—that is the job of civic utilities. Our job is to ensure they do theirs. Residents already pay for basic services through taxes, and water and power bills, so why should anyone pay more?'' said D M Narang, general secretary of the association.
The RWA takes its task quite seriously. "Household trash is collected by auto tippers every morning. There is also a dhalao nearby where garbage is collected routinely. The 33 parks in the locality are maintained by the municipal corporation or individuals," said Narang, adding, "we try to get the work done by civic agencies on behalf of the residents. A large part of DJB's bill is sewer charges, so whenever there is a sewer related problem, we ensure DJB does the work".
The RWA gets the area discom, which maintains streetlights on behalf of the corporation, to keep them in order. For security, households pool in to hire guards for their lane while the RWA takes up problems with the local police.
Recently, the RWA has moved a proposal to increase the annual membership from Rs 100 to Rs 500. "There are approximately 1,100 houses in R-block. We do not pressure anyone to pay the membership fee, people pay willingly,'' said Narang.
with thanks : Times of India : LINK
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