For two years, the ward budget of our colony in South Delhi listed streetlights that had never been installed. Here’s exactly what we did about it — with the RTI application text you can copy.
It began with a broken streetlight nobody would fix. When we filed an RTI asking who had received payment for the streetlight contract in our block, the reply named a firm we had never heard of, and quoted a completion date six months in the past. The streetlight, at that time, was still broken.
This is a step-by-step account of what our RWA did next, over 14 months, culminating in a re-audit of ₹8 crore of ward-level expenditure by the MCD internal audit team. The process is entirely replicable by any resident’s association in India — no political connection required.
Step 1 — File a comprehensive RTI. Do not just ask about your one broken streetlight. Ask for the ward-wise Utilisation Certificate (UC) for the last three financial years, along with the list of works completed and vendor names. The exact wording we used is at the end of this piece.
Step 2 — Verify on the ground. Print the works list. Walk the ward with three residents. Photograph what exists and what does not. This is unglamorous and non-negotiable.
Step 3 — First appeal, then Information Commission. The first response will be delayed or evasive. File the first appeal within 30 days. If still unsatisfactory, go to the CIC — free, no lawyer needed.
Step 4 — Publish, don’t email. We put the discrepancies on a single-page notice at the community hall. Within a week, three other blocks joined. Numbers matter.
Step 5 — Formal complaint to the Municipal Commissioner + copy to the elected MLA. Not to shame, but to force a paper trail. Our re-audit was ordered within 21 days of this letter.
What we learned: the system responds to documented, unemotional, replicable pressure. Everything above cost us the price of RTI application fees — roughly ₹1,200 across 18 months.