<p>In a perfect example of the citizen’s power of vigilance, a group of residents from around Richard’s Town not only exposed leakage of funds with regard to developmental work of a park undertaken by the BBMP in the area, but also got the authorities to immediately correct the wrongs. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Back in 2010, a citizen’s project to promote transparency and accountability in the BBMP was being tested under the guidance of the NGO, Civic. Residents here did an audit of developmental works in Richard’s Park.<br /><br />They accessed various documents through RTI and undertook a social auditing exercise of the works planned for the park in the same year. They found a number of unanswered questions on the amount allocated for various works and the actual results on the ground.<br /><br />Sivashankaran, who was part of the social auditing, recalls: “Once we showed what was wrong, the authorities took action within three months. Subsequently, the developmental work was done under our supervision within a period 10 to 15 days. Citizens need to be vigilant and make authorities accountable for whatever they are undertaking in the name of the public,” he says.</p>
<p>In a perfect example of the citizen’s power of vigilance, a group of residents from around Richard’s Town not only exposed leakage of funds with regard to developmental work of a park undertaken by the BBMP in the area, but also got the authorities to immediately correct the wrongs. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Back in 2010, a citizen’s project to promote transparency and accountability in the BBMP was being tested under the guidance of the NGO, Civic. Residents here did an audit of developmental works in Richard’s Park.<br /><br />They accessed various documents through RTI and undertook a social auditing exercise of the works planned for the park in the same year. They found a number of unanswered questions on the amount allocated for various works and the actual results on the ground.<br /><br />Sivashankaran, who was part of the social auditing, recalls: “Once we showed what was wrong, the authorities took action within three months. Subsequently, the developmental work was done under our supervision within a period 10 to 15 days. Citizens need to be vigilant and make authorities accountable for whatever they are undertaking in the name of the public,” he says.</p>