Citizen Forum Meeting - Muzaffarpur

The Muzaffarpur Citizen Forum organised its second meeting on 13^th January, 2019 as part of the Engaged Citizens, Responsive City project. The Citizen Forum in Muzaffarpur was constituted on 9th Dec 2018 with the objective of active citizen engagement to improve sanitation services in the city. This meeting was attended not only by members of the Citizen Forum but also by members of the Settlement Improvement Committee. The discussions were kickstarted by Dr. D.K Das who spoke about the need for the youth to attend Citizen Forums in the future, so that the momentum built up so far is not lost.

This was followed by a discussion on the issues which were brought up in previous Citizen Forums and the progress made on those issues. At this point, the Forum was told the story of a person who had his livelihood restored by the efforts of members of the Citizen Forum. Deepak and Anil (from Sarafa Bazaar) with the help of a volunteer collected trash from their areas along with cement and brick pieces to construct a tea stall to help the man. This initiative was the beginning of an effort by other residents of the area around the tea stall to clean the area. Soon, Sarafa Bazaar and the areas around it were clean and the stench of the area also disappeared along with the trash.

This story was followed up by another one from Praveen Kumar Jha, who is a part of the Auto Driver’s Union. He helped set up a urinal near the auto stand so that the drivers in the area do not urinate in the open, along with establishing rules to prevent drivers from throwing garbage on the streets. On this note, Dr. DK Das brought up the main issue which was to help prevent public urination. He gave the example of a stretch of road in Ward 35 which had become notorious for being a public urination spot, so much so, that people are avoiding that road because of the stench emanating from the place. This spot among others, must be resolved so that people understand the gravity of the issue. He said that the Citizen Forum was willing to help in any way possible which included providing the sanitation workers equipment and gear to carry out the task.

The prevailing topic of discussion was the role of the municipality in cleaning the city. Numerous complaints regarding public urination, sewage flowing onto the streets etc. were made to the local municipality but to no avail, as little to no action was taken to rectify the complaint. One of the members suggested that from the next Citizen Forum, the local municipality must also be asked to attend the Forum, so that they are directly aware of the problems faced by the citizens of Muzaffarpur.

The following issues were chosen which the members must help rectify, until the next meeting:

• Starting a campaign to clean the area around the railway station
• Helping Muzaffapur become plastic-free by promoting the use of cloth bags
• Preventing public urination in Ward 35
• Construction of a toilet for women in Ward 21
• Sending flowers to members of the local municipality who are doing their duty
• Providing clothes and gear to the sanitation workers.