Since its inception in 1992, CIVIC’s (Citizens’ Voluntary Initiative for the City) work has revolved around urban issues, especially realizing social equity in the growth of Bangalore through the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (or the Nagarapalika Act, an Act under the Constitution of India that defines how cities/towns in India need to be governed). CIVIC's current focus is on bringing in equitable governance and addressing corruption by building transparency, accountability and people’s participation in urban governance through the Right to Information Act (RTI). It also uses RTI, awareness programmes on citizens’ charters, grievance redressal meetings and public hearings to empower the poor to access their rights and improve government services. CIVIC works at the field and policy levels. It uses experiences gathered at the field level to bring policy changes needed at the government level.
Kathyayini Chamraj from CIVIC talks about their work in this film.
An India Water Portal volunteer, Sucheta Ramprakash, visited CIVIC to see the work they are doing in the area of water and sanitation in Bangalore. Currently they are working in three slums each in three wards in the city - Nagawara, Lingarajapuram and Devasandra. Initially they were working in two wards in Bangalore on water issues, where they were able to foster citizen participation and empower citizens to demand what was rightfully theirs to begin with. One example of this was CIVIC's role in educating slum-dwellers of the fact that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), for instance is mandated to provide free tanker water when they cannot supply the minimum amount of required water to slums. The slum residents did not know this, and were going in search of water or buying it when the BWSSB failed to supply water or supplied insufficient quantities. This is an example of slum residents being empowered with knowledge thanks to CIVIC's intervention.
Jyoti from CIVIC talks about the work they are doing in three slums in Bangalore
After a base-line survey in a Nagawara slum, CIVIC has got BWSSB to repair three bore-wells in the area, to augment the water supply to the slum. CIVIC got the water from these borewells also tested by BWSSB for potability. After CIVIC’s intervention, officials started frequently visiting the area to monitor the proper supply of water and attend to grievances voiced by the slum community, which they never used to do earlier. CIVIC's interventions mobilised officials to respond to the problems being faced by the slum dwellers.
A slum resident in Nagavara goes to collect water
In a Lingarajapuram slum, authorities agreed to send water tankers twice a week after a grievance redressal meeting with officials was held by CIVIC for the slum-dwellers. In Devasandra, when slum-dwellers complained of the water being mixed with sewage, CIVIC got BWSSB to test the water quality, replace the leaking pipes and thus ensure safe drinking water supply to the community.
CIVIC’s advocacy at the institutional and policy level resulted in BWSSB itself starting to conduct regular grievance redressal meetings at sub-divisional level all across Bangalore. It also agreed to develop a pro-poor urban water policy and constitute people’s participation platforms with community representatives at sub-divisional level to enable people’s participation in decision-making, monitoring and auditing of services.
Residents from the slums that CIVIC works in talk about the water and sanitation situation
Learn all about Civic's work in water here. To get involved, contact Ms. Kathyayini Chamraj or Civic's office in Bangalore.
Videos and pictures have been contributed by Sucheta Ramprakash, a India Water Portal Volunteer