PMC plans to telecast live the proceedings of the general body
Expressindia.com, Pune: Till now, the television allowed citizens to see the representatives they elected taking part in the proceedings of in Parliament and the state Assemblies. Now, they can see what goes on in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as well.
The civic body is planning to telecast live the proceedings of the general body and let the public see how their elected representatives behave. The only difference is that the footage has to be seen through the Internet.
“We are exploring the possibility of screening live the proceedings of the PMC general body on the Internet. The idea is at the planning stages but a few private companies have already come forward to give a demonstration,” said Anupam Saraph, chief information officer of the PMC.
Even with existing technology, the idea does not require much investment. It would be meaningful to use the available technology for such a purpose, he said. It would make the public aware of the way their local representatives perform in the House, and also keep them abreast of various issues concerning the city.
This is an extension of the plan for video conferencing between PMC officials, a process that is still on trial. “A circular has already been issued to all civic officers with an office laptop or a computer to install the software required for video conferencing. There have been so far two training sessions to help ward officers use the facility,” Saraph said, adding a few of the officers have already started using online videoconferencing. Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi said, “The videoconferencing facility will save a lot of time; civic officers need no longer rush to meetings at long distances.”
Saraph said heads of departments and ward officers were expected to use the facility more than others; they would coordinate among themselves while sitting at their offices and carrying on with everyday work. “There is some initial reluctance to use the facility. It will take time implementation till the culture of using videoconferencing spread across the board. There will be no officers who would like to go through traffic jams, search for parking space and waste time to reach to the destination of a meeting when videoconferencing facility is an option,” he said. The culture can be encouraged by having a videoconferencing day every week, he said.
“Videoconferencing will be of most use to the general body, standing committee and other committee meetings. Civic officers have to sit through meetings to reply to queries raised by elected representatives. Most of the time, the officers have no role to play in the meeting and even they have, it takes hardly a few minutes,” he said.
On more technology, Saraph spoke of the emergency button facility at kiosks. The software has already been loaded on computers at all kiosks so that anyone pressing the emergency button gets recorded and crank calls are discouraged. He said there is a need of providing the same software to police stations, hospitals and fire stations so that a person seeking emergency help can be seen. “Computer infrastructure is an issue with the police stations, hospitals and fire stations, but in the PMC, Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has responded enthusiastically,” he said.
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