PUNE: While management-savvy corporators are obtaining ISO certifications for administrative processes they are following, one corporator in the city is using technology to great effect.

Meet Rajendra Gorde, a Cummins factory worker and first-time corporator in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) from Ward no. 62 (Mahatma Society in Kothrud) - the biggest ward in the city with over 22,000 registered voters.

Rajabhau, as he is popularly known, has created a personal data-bank of nearly 80 percent of the electorate in his ward. Not only does he know people by name, where exactly they reside and the number of people in their families, but he also knows their birth dates, anniversaries and other important dates. Most importantly, he has the cellphone numbers of each of these people.

So, it is possible for him to send out personalised greetings, good wishes, condolences and other messages to each and every individual in his database. While this kind of SMSes help Rajabhau to establish a personal connect with his voters, what makes him stand out as a corporator are the public service and informational messaging that he sends out to hundreds of people every day.

For instance, he secured the names of all secondary and higher secondary students of municipal schools in the city who had secured 80 percent and above marks. It was a pleasant surprise for 83 such students when their parents received individual SMSes from Rajabhau informing them that they were eligible for grants of Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively, under a PMC scheme for meritorious students.

It is here that Rajabhau scores over the run-of-the-mill corporators. Not only does he inform people about their rights, privileges and eligibilities, but he ensures that their entitlements actually reach them. In case of the students, his workers ensured that the forms were filled and the payment cheques reached all those who were entitled to it.

His database is being managed by a city-based analyst Narendra Dedge who has segregated it into various categories of people. Like, if polio drops are to be dispensed, all families with infants will receive a SMS indicating the date, time and venue. Or, if there is a bhajan programme in a mandir, all senior citizens will get the information well in time.

The most popular messages are the ones informing people about water cuts and power shutdowns. It enables people to prepare for exigencies and not get caught unawares.

The massive data itself was collected by a dedicated band of workers led by Rajabhau’s right hand man Chandrakant Kumbhare. Not only does it enable Rajabhau to communicate with people, it works the other way too. It helps them collect enough petitions to get services instituted and works executed. For example, five years back the ward had two bus routes. Now it has 123.

It has also helped to get street lights, footpaths, road dividers and other amenities.

Out of the nearly 6500 families in the ward, 5500 have been recorded. Rajabhau has plans to reach out beyond his ward and record one lakh families in the city by the year end. The emphasis is on ensuring that everyone figures on the voters list and has a voter I-card.

 And yet, not a single announcement he sends out has any political message. Rajabhau won the polls on a MNS ticket. “I am a social worker, not a political activist,” he points out. “In civic polls, people vote for those they trust, not the party,” he observes.