Citizen Forum Meeting - Jhansi

As part of the Engaged Citizens, Responsive City project, PRIA organised the second Citizen Forum meeting on 9th January, 2019 to carry forward the various issues discussed in the first Citizen Forum meeting that took place on 29th November, 2018. This was also the first meeting which was attended by officials from the local municipality, thus representing yet another step forward for the Citizen Forum.

The meeting was convened to discuss the following points:

• Initiating dialogue between the Forum and the local Municipality
• The role of the Forum when conducting the annual Swachh Survekshan (Cleanliness Audit) as part of the Swachh Bharat Missions
• Promotion of segregation of waste and rubbish at the source (at home as well as at the ward level)
• Utilising kitchen waste for composting

The discussions were then opened up to the audience in attendance. The first point of discussion revolved around the mechanisms available to the citizens to contact and book complaints regarding sanitation with the local municipality. This process was especially hard for the people living in unregulated areas or slums, and therefore, the municipality officials were asked to share their mobile numbers to hasten the process. The second point of discussion was based on the issue of segregation of waste, where the audience brainstormed the ways to make the general populace aware of the importance of waste segregation and the difference between dry and wet waste.

While the meeting was being conducted, the Forum also raised the following areas which needed to be addressed:

• Appointment of a representative of the Citizen Forum to act as a liaison between the citizen forum and the local municipality.
• Availability of composting facilities in the local parks where citizens will be able to dispose of wet waste
• Implementation of a “Composting Mandal” in the Municipality to teach the general audience about wet waste disposal
• Choose one of the 60 wards in the city where the municipality demonstrates proper waste segregation and disposal, thus creating a “model example” which other wards can learn from