Till a year ago, the Oval Maidan in Mumbai was an eyesore. This heritage site was a haven for drug pushers, pimps, sex workers, card sharps and all sorts of antisocials. Morchas headed for Mantralaya were a daily nuisance and virtually every inch of the pavement opposite Churchgate Station was usurped by hawkers leaving pedestrians with no space to walk. In other words Oval Maidan was not what it was meant to be-a much-needed green belt for residents in south Mumbai.

A fact that disturbed Neera Punj, Nayana Kathpalia and Kunti Oza very much. Punj, after a long stint abroad, had returned to live near Churchgate, and Kathpalia, an activist with intach in Delhi, had shifted base to Mumbai where her home faced the historic Oval Maidan. Oza had lived all her life in the city. The three enterprising women rallied around to set things right. It wasn't easy. They were mocked at, officials were amused and dismissed these 'English-speaking mems'. But the committed trio, fully aware of their rights, knocked at the doors of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), local government representatives and finally the Bombay High Court-all this in the late 1990s.

Their relentless crusade eventually paid off. Today morchas have been banned in the area and are stopped at Azad Maidan, the Oval Maidan has been restored to its pristine glory and pedestrians are able to walk on the pavements opposite Churchgate. Success breeds success. The three are now much sought after for guidance and help by residents' groups spread across the city. Their initiative-Citizens Forum for Protection of Public Space, better known as CitiSpace-now has over 500 paid members who are consulted by the BMC each time an issue of open space arises in the city. As Punj says, "If citizens wish to improve the quality of life around them, they can do it. But they have to step out."

Citizens are indeed stepping out. In a departure from the past, Mumbaikars aren't resigning to their fate or escaping to the suburbs. Worsening civic and environmental conditions and burgeoning corruption in Mumbai have nudged citizens across the city out of their slumber. They have come together in groups to raise issues and fight for their rights.

Over 1,500 different groups are active across the city. Gerson da Cunha, convenor of Agni (Action for Good Governance and Networking in India), points out that over 1,000 street committees maintain complaint registers and monitor problems as diverse as air quality, water supply, garbage collection, noise pollution, space management, road maintenance and, of course, corruption in public offices. The urban vigilantes are today a growing breed.

George Gopali is one of them. Eight years ago, disgusted by the sight of plastic bags littering Mumbai's famous Juhu beach, he wondered if the stretch of sand could become as clean as some of the beaches abroad. A little help from the then municipal commissioner Sharad Kale spurred Gopali and he started cleaning up the waterfronts. His efforts paid off. Gopali's initiative could well become the first of its kind to translate into a viable business proposition.

If Gopali wanted to see cleaner beaches, there were others gasping for cleaner air. Every day Sandeep Rane, a cardiologist living in the north-eastern suburb of Chembur, came across several patients affected by the rising vehicular pollution. In another part of the city, Meher Rafat found her daughter Shanaya's asthmatic condition worsening due to the corrosive pollutants in the air. Every friend and doctor she met had only one suggestion: leave Mumbai. Rafat, an easygoing Parsi on most days, was riled. The common thought in Rane's and her mind was: something had to be done.

Echoing similar sentiments were H.N. Daruwala, who works with the Godrej Group, businessman Prabhu Raveshia and a host of others. Rane filed a public-interest petition against the state Government. The result was a landmark judgement where the Bombay High Court came down heavily on the Maharashtra Government and directed it to implement pollution control norms and levy heavy fines, cancel registration and prosecute drivers. Even though the battle is still on, at least Shanaya and millions of Mumbaikars can breathe a little easier now.

Most often activism stems from inaction and by harassed citizens who could not take it anymore. Every monsoon, the homes of residents in Guzdar Baug in Mumbai's Santa Cruz area were flooded, thanks to the encroachment of a nearby mangrove by a slum lord. Navin Mithal, a flight engineer with Air-India, couldn't take it any longer. Says Mithal: "On one side was the inaction of the BMC and on the other the threats by the goons of the slumlord." A tired and disgusted Mithal finally approached the court. In a landmark judgement in October 2001, 8,000 hutments were ordered to be shifted and the BMC was asked to clean and desilt the sewers.

Karun Srivastava, commissioner of the BMC, feels there has been a welcome tangible change with public organisations not just complaining and confronting but taking up responsibilities as well. Says Srivastava: "Public watchdog cells are absolutely necessary. They work as pressure points, which makes the officers more alert and responsible."

That's precisely what groups like the Vigilance Advisory Committee do. This forum formed by R.H. Mendonca, Satish Sawhney and Arvind Inamdar, all former police commissioners, and former cabinet secretary B.G. Deshmukh spearheads the battle against corruption. Mendonca got the idea following the success of the Vigilance Awareness Week held in Mumbai in 2001. The aim, says Mendonca modestly, is to "provide a bridge between civil society and officials and act as a catalyst in fighting corruption".

Significantly, often the activists are not politically connected nor are they social workers. They are just ordinary people: professionals, businessmen, housewives and even retired bureaucrats and police officials who share similar ideals. Like Bhagwanji Raiyani, a builder-developer and resident of Vile Parle, who recently discovered that a builder had usurped prime public land meant for new premises for various courts and tribunals in the suburb of Malad. He filed a public interest petition and won the case. While disposing the case Chief Justice B.P. Singh and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud thanked Raiyani "for his interest and alertness in raising the issue before the court".

Most often the activism leads to public-interest petitions and ends up at the Bombay High Court. Advocate M.P. Vashi, a founder-member of the public organisation Jan Hit Manch, which takes up social issues and fights them, believes public interest petitions are not the answer for they are time-consuming and unaffordable. Vashi personally appears in at least two public-interest cases and lends a ear to some 100 people who visit his office every day. "When doctors and lawyers are busy, it means society is in trouble," says Vashi, adding that "today only injections seem to work on personal health and injunctions on societal health".

Deshmukh feels there is an urgent need for change. The rising need for citizens' activism, he believes, "definitely points to a failure of the administrative machinery". One of the problems faced by various groups is inadequate involvement of the elected representatives. And this is what Mayank Gandhi and Sudipt Sen are seeking to set right. The duo spend their evenings speaking to voters in Jogeshwari and Vile Parle about the forthcoming municipal polls. One would think they are candidates or party workers, but Gandhi, an exporter, and Sen, a pilot, are members of the K West Citizens' Association. Their mission: to urge people to step out and vote for clean and competent candidates.

Agni too has initiated a programme to educate voters to bring about this change. Mumbaikars from every walk of life and those who belong to groups like Citispace, Clean Mumbai Foundation, Dignity Foundation, Nagar, Power, Proud and others have come under the Agni umbrella to campaign for citizens' rights and better governance. Mumbaikars are not expecting miracles but as Deshmukh says, "If a cause is worth doing then it is worth the first step." The urban vigilantes in Mumbai are taking that first step.