Have you registered a complaint about encroachment? If yes, then you can track it online and check its status. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has put up a link that takes one to the nature of work carried out by the encroachment department following a complaint. Not just the person who has complained, but anyone who looks to take on encroachment issues too can track the work. The page, though not visible on the homepage as the MCGM website was done up recently, can instead be viewed at removalofencroachment.mcgm.gov.in. It allows citizens to make complaints online and also monitor the action taken. Once on the page, an 'RTI Tab' allows access to the detection register, notice register, demolition register, and the court injunction register. "We have been pursuing the issue with the BMC for the past six to eight months. It has now actually happened," said Shailesh Gandhi, chairperson of the Technical Advisory Committee, which advises the BMC on suo motu disclosure of information that could be of interest to citizens. "Making a complaint online was always an option with the BMC. With this addition, people can now track it too. The present site provides a good system for a person to make an online complaint, and follow it up later to figure out if action has been taken," said Bhaskar Prabhu, member of the Technical Advisory Committee. "That is a big thing. The website will provide information about unauthorised construction or encroachments in different areas. If a large number of people monitor it online and give us feedback, we will know if it is actually working and curtailing encroachments. We are really looking for feedback. They can come through the press or can be mailed to us directly. We would like to see how effective it is," said Gandhi. "The website will provide information on anything 24X7. There was also a demand that information of the complainant and the person complained against be put up too. The Whistleblower Act would not allow us to put that out. How frequently information is uploaded, will depend on how soon the encroachment department can provide it to the technical team. If they can do that on a real-time basis, such information will be uploaded on real-time basis too," said Sudhir Naik, deputy municipal commissioner (general administration department), a previous member of TAC. "Putting up details will depend firstly on how the compliant is registered; whether it is manual or online. Our data is updated on a daily basis by our engineers," said Ranjit Dhakane, deputy municipal commissioner (encroachments).

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