4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The following initiatives implemented have been innovative in nature to cater needs of the citizens
1. Walk with Commissioner and Commissioner Reference: This is the first time that a Municipal Commissioner of a large city is directly meeting and interacting with citizens. This brought Government to the doorstep of citizens instead of citizens having to visit Government office. The perception of citizens has changed from ‘non-responsive administration’ to ‘proactive administration’ and from ‘unapproachable administration’ to ‘citizen centric administration’
2. E-Grievance system: For the first time in India, a robotics driven Online Grievance Redressal System with built in accountability was introduced with features such as Auto routing of complaints, Auto escalation of complaints, Auto show cause notice generation and Auto sampling of grievances for regular monitoring.
3. Ease of Doing Business: First Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra to implement a single window system for online issuance of licenses and to provide digitally signed certificates
4. Cashless Initiative: NMMC is probably country’s first Municipal Corporation which has given citizens the option of electronic payment through three different channels – Portal, Mobile Application and Point of Sale Terminals. Even before the government enacted demonetization, NMMC was technically ready to facilitate citizens to make cashless transactions.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The initiative was implemented by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra and approximately 14, 00, 000 (fourteen lakhs) citizens and businessmen from across Mumbai Metropolitan area are affected by this initiative
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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NMMC has identified three (3) pillars which are key for the implementation of initiatives. The pillars are –
1. Citizen centricity
2. Ease of doing business
3. Internal efficiency and transparency
The snapshot of the three (3) pillars and the key points for consideration for each of them are given below:
1. Citizen Centricity
• Zero footfall at NMMC offices
• Single window and easy access of information
• Citizen comes online, not in line
• Transparent and efficient public delivery system
• Institutional systemic change to propel accountability and responsibility
• Technology driven payment ecosystem
2. Ease of Doing Business
• Zero footfall at NMMC offices
• Process reengineering with the objective of accountability and reduction in cost and time
• Easy availability of information
• Scope for online submission
• Reduction of unnecessary documents to be submitted
• Downloadable certificates with digital signatures
• Technology driven payment ecosystem providing multiple options
3. Internal efficiency and transparency
• MIS and Dashboard with real time data for quick decision making
• Strong grievance management system
• Faceless and cashless governance
• Training the manpower for skills, competencies to induce digital culture
NMMC online grievance redressal system, walk with commissioner, online licenses for ease of doing business, cashless initiatives, etc. are based on the above three pillar. To ensure successful implementation of these initiatives, NMMC focuses on three (3) key approaches
Top Management Leadership and Oversight
Involvement of the top management is crucial for the success of any project. The reason behind achieving results is due to extensive involvement of the Municipal Commissioner and weekly review meetings with all head of the departments (chaired by the Municipal Commissioner). In these meetings, impact of all initiative is discussed and activities are tracked and monitored and any bottlenecks are addressed.
Training, Capacity Building and Employee readiness
Capacity building and change management are the most important factors for the success of any initiative in long run. Hence NMMC has given priority to training and capacity building of employees at all levels to make them ready for the change. The implementation of initiatives brings inevitable changes in the routine operations of the departments and in the requirement of their skillsets. Regular capacity building activities focuses on bridging the technical skill gaps and in eliminating the resistance to change.
Time-bound, target driven and outcome focused approach
NMMC, with a top to bottom approach, has defined a clear objective and measurable goals with defined targets and time frame for each initiative. Due to focused approach of leadership and faster issue resolution, NMMC has achieved the desired results in a short span of time.
Following activities were taken by NMMC to ensure the successful implementation of the initiatives,
- Understanding the current situation.
- Business Process Re-engineering
- Stakeholders’ consultation
- Taking Citizen’s feedback
- Standardization of forms and making system more user friendly
- Leverage existing applications and infrastructure
- Changes in the software
- Capacity building of employees
- Continuous improvement and monitoring
Online as well as Offline mechanisms are adopted for regular monitoring and evaluation of the initiatives.
— Walk with Commissioner, Commissioner Reference and grievance redressal system has been linked with analytics and stored for trend analysis. Analytics driven proactive and preventive measures been undertaken to ensure efficient governance (e.g. weekly data analyzed to identify repeated complaints regarding a particular service or areas and the same is addressed proactively).
— The initiatives are reviewed weekly and status of each suggestion and complaint is monitored and any problem arisen thereto is resolved so that better services can be provided to the citizens. The data analytics is also used to take preventive and curative measures by analyzing the problem areas.
NMMC, while implementing abovementioned initiatives, has utilized its existing man-force and resources thereby incurring Zero cost to Corporation.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Under the ambit of e-Governance initiatives umbrella, with a fresh vision and goals, NMMC senior management identified need to overhaul the public services delivery and the grievances redressal system. The main driving factors to this need were citizen accessibility and empowerment, better utilization of staff and appraisal of officers on the basis of quality of time bound resolution provided to citizens.
The efforts of the corporation to improve citizen service delivery gained acceleration under the dynamic leadership of Shri. Tukaram Mundhe I.A.S., Municipal Commissioner, Navi Mumbai. These initiatives also involved active participation of all Head of the Departments and citizens.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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1. Better citizen services:
- 83.61% of grievances (total of 3493 grievances have been registered after system overhaul) have been resolved within 7 days with an overall resolution percentage of 95.11%
- Informed and intelligent travel to over more than 3, 00, 000 commuters by providing real time bus information and features like setting of alarms in mobile application
- Safe and secure travel by introducing travel Information sharing through Whatsapp & SMS
2. Citizen participation in planning:
- Around 2115 suggestions and grievances have been received from citizens during Walk with Commissioner events
- The data has been analyzed and more than 93% have been implemented. About 7% of the suggestions have been taken into consideration for planning and budgeting purposes, thus making it a real example of participative governance
- Addition of new routes after feedback from the citizens
3. Cashless NMMC:
- The first city to enable cashless transactions for all services across all channels (Portal, Mobile and CFC)
- The first city transport corporation to enable cashless transaction
- The number of transactions have increased by 84% and the tax collection has increased 4.5 times after implementation of the initiative
- In cashless, total transactions amounting to ₹ 574,779,472.50 have been completed till 28th February 2017.
4. Ease of doing business:
- Trade licenses are issued electronically with digital signature, thus making it easier for traders to obtain license
- For Commencement (CC) and Occupancy Certificate (OC) under building permissions, steps have been reduced from 30 to 6, document reduction from 35 to 7 for CC and 15 to 7 for OC.
- Stakeholders reduced from 10 to 4
- Plinth certificate under building permission to be given based on self-certification
- Citizens/traders need not to visit corporation office
These outputs induced the Impact on Decision making/Policy making, enhanced accountability, transparency and participation, social equality and removed corruption and mala-fide practices
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1. Problems related to grievance redressal:
- Difficult and cumbersome process for citizens to lodge complaints as they needed to know the name of the department, ward etc. to file a complaint
- No tracking and monitoring of the complaints and no service levels for resolution
- Citizen had to visit in-person thus bringing in a scope for delays, favoritism and corruption.
Resolution:-
- Comprehensive online system easing citizen efforts in filing complaints
- Auto routing of the grievance to the department and concerned officer
- Built in accountability for non-performance and non-satisfactory performance
- Online tracking and monitoring
2. Problems related to citizen participation in planning:
- There was no structured mechanism for citizens inputs
- There was no tracking and monitoring of feedback provided by citizens
Resolution:-
- Walk with Commissioner: - All inputs and feedback given to the Commissioner are marked as ‘Commissioner Reference’ and a separate tracking mechanism was put in place to track the same for completion.
3. Problems related to payments:
- No scope for online / electronic payment in public transport buses
- Payments collected through Cash, Cheques or Demand Draft
- Reconciliation errors were regular
Resolution:-
- Electronic payments (debit / credit card / internet banking/ mobile wallets) and at bank branches (anywhere across the country) of selected banks
- O&M contract management and introduction to host to host payments to vendors; thereby reducing red-tapism and improving transparency
4. Problems related to ease of doing business:
- No integrated online system
- Significant manual interventions and touch points
- Lengthy procedures with too many documents involved
- Delays and discretion
Resolution:-
- Single Window System
- Designated and few human touchpoints
- Self-certification for plinth and NOCs
- Significant reduction in supporting documents
- Online tracking and digitally signed trade licenses
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