RWA wants committee to implement public suggestion

CHENNAI: With the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) started consulting stakeholders to prepare vision document for the Third Master Plan, Federation of OMR Resident Associations has urged the planning authority to form a committee to colate suggestions from the public.

Harsha Koda, co-founder of the federation, while lauding the move to gather public opinion, pointed out "the problem is always, with what happens to the data? What do we learn from it? and how are things implemented?"

He opined that citizens' opinions were not taken seriously by most government bodies. "Leaders from residents' welfare associations have attended numerous meetings at Chennai Corporation, Metrowater, CMDA and others but none of the suggestions were ever translated into policy documents," he said.

He added, 'one-size-fits-all' approach, was adopted in most cases and that was one of the reasons for the failure of master plans.

"The data from the survey should be studied by an independent monitoring committee comprising equally of bureaucrats and citizens. This monitoring committee should also ensure proper implementation of the recommendations," he said.