An MMRDA order issued on Thursday states that the Social Development Cell has received several complaints about third parties operating from its premises
Mumbai: A day after transferring its entire 16-member team in the Social Development Cell handling rehabilitation of project-affected people (PAPs), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has moved to tighten access to the unit, explicitly barring middlemen, brokers and agents from its offices and warning employees of disciplinary action if they are found dealing with them. The order also carries a warning for the new team: any officer or employee found to be in contact with a middleman, broker, or agent could face disciplinary action under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1979. The measures follow metropolitan commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee’s surprise inspection of the cell and the subsequent transfer of all 16 staffers, from the deputy collector to peons.
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Such interference, the order says, can result in genuine project-affected people being deprived of benefits while “unauthorised or fake” persons secure them, besides damaging MMRDA’s reputation. It says individuals have been found putting pressure on officials to take illegal action on behalf of others during official proceedings. The order provides a revealing glimpse into the concerns that have prompted the authority to overhaul the functioning of the cell. MMRDA has now made it mandatory for anyone seeking access to the third and fourth floors housing the Social Development Cell to obtain written permission from the additional collector and head of the cell. Middlemen, brokers, and agents are specifically prohibited from entering the offices for official work. PAPs and their blood relatives will also have to have their details, along with identity proof, recorded in a visitor register maintained by security personnel before being allowed inside. MMRDA has gone a step further by creating a system to track who is visiting the cell and whom they are meeting. Separate registers will record the names and mobile numbers of visitors, applicants and PAPs, as well as the officers or employees they have come to meet. One male and one female security guard are to be deployed at the entrances to each of the two floors. Security personnel have also been instructed to remove people found loitering without reason from the authority’s old building premises. Together, the two orders point to an attempt by MMRDA to reset the way PAP rehabilitation cases are handled — with tighter access, greater documentation and a clearer trail of accountability. Download the TOI App.
The section officer of the Social Development Cell will compile details of frequent visitors and applicants from the register and place the information before the additional collector and head by the fifth of every month. An office order issued on Thursday states that the Social Development Cell has received several complaints about third parties operating from its premises and allegedly misleading PAPs.