Why I built Accountable

Disclaimer: When I say India's largest Civic Network this is what I mean: The App currently has all MPs, Cabinet Ministers, MLAs, State Ministers, IAS, IPS, Police Stations, food safety officers and many more authorities all of them mapped according to their jurisdiction boundaries no other app in India has that today hence the claim "Largest".

https://www.accountable.social/download

I'm Tarun, a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft. Like every Indian, I've lived with broken roads, overflowing drains and public services that answer to no one.

At 20, I voted for the first time, in a municipal election, and noticed something unsettling: almost no one around me knew who they were voting for. They voted for a PM's face, a CM candidate, a party symbol. Few could name their corporator. Many didn't even know their ward. Politics is central, but governance is local, and the people who shape our streets are the ones we can't name.

So I started with one simple idea: open an app and see who your leaders are, based only on where you're standing. Today, Accountable maps 15,000+ authority profiles to their jurisdictions, from ward corporators and MLAs to MPs, Union ministers, and IAS and IPS officers.

Then I hit the next wall. Social media gave us a voice, but nobody gave it an address. Civic issues drown under cricket, movies and manufactured outrage. So I built a social network just for public life, where civic posts come first. You post with evidence, tag the authority or company responsible, and credit the officials who get it right. It isn't a grievance portal, and it isn't partisan: every party gets questioned, including yours.

The last wall was isolation. People facing the same problem were fighting it alone, with no leverage against powerful leaders. When your MP answers to about 18 lakh voters, one voice is easy to ignore. So Accountable lets people unite through petitions, movements and communities drawn on election boundaries, from wards up to all 543 Lok Sabha seats. Your location adds you automatically. Alone, you're a complaint. Together, you're a constituency.

Since March, alongside my day job, I've built it solo for Android, iPhone and the web, through Google Play rejection after rejection. Within two weeks of launch, Accountable crossed 10M+ views across X, Instagram and Reddit.

Looking back, I'd been following three words from Dr B. R. Ambedkar all along: Educate. Agitate. Organize.

Accountability shouldn't end on election day. With Accountable, it doesn't.

If your day starts with checking Google Maps before deciding when to leave, if you add 30–45 minutes "just in case", or if getting home for dinner has become unpredictable, you already know what traffic takes from us: time.

The numbers:
- Bengaluru was India's most congested city in 2025 and the second-most congested in the world, with a 74.4% congestion level (TomTom Traffic Index 2025)
- 10 km in the evening rush took 45 min 27 s on average, and a rush-hour commuter lost about 168 hours in the year, roughly seven full days
- GPS data from 61 school buses on the SH-35 (Whitefield–Sarjapur) corridor showed students spending about 112 minutes a day commuting

This isn't a movement against cars. For many of us, driving is simply the most reliable option we have. The problem is that the city grew faster than our ability to offer a convenient alternative, so more people buy vehicles and the roads get worse.

The petition, **One Bengaluru Against Traffic**, asks for:

1. More reliable buses actually on the road: the approved BMTC expansion running every day, on the routes people need
2. Faster, more dependable bus journeys on high-demand corridors
3. Real first- and last-mile connections to Metro and bus stops: feeder services, safe walking routes, easy interchanges
4. BMTC, Namma Metro and Suburban Rail working as one network
5. Public accountability for big transport projects: what was promised, what's done, what's delayed and why

It asks something of us too: where a decent alternative exists, use it, carpool, or skip the unnecessary trip.

We may travel differently, but we're all stuck in the same traffic.

Every Mumbaikar knows the routine. Wait for a bus that doesn't come on time. Watch a packed local pull in and decide whether it's safe to board. Change to the Metro, then hunt for an auto for the last kilometre. Then do it all again in the evening.

What it costs us

• 2,287 people died on the suburban railway network in 2025. More than 1,000 of those deaths involved crossing tracks, and 525 people fell from moving trains.
• BEST ran about 4,700 buses in 2011. Today it runs about 2,834, while Greater Mumbai has crossed 54 lakh registered vehicles.
• In the 2025 evening rush, 10 km by road took 35 min 30 s on average, and a rush-hour commuter lost about 126 hours to congestion over the year.

There is progress: the Metro is expanding, 238 new 12-coach AC locals are approved (deliveries from 2027), and Mumbai One is linking the systems. But announcements only matter when they become buses on the road and trains people can board safely.

The petition, United Mumbai for Better Transportation, asks for:

1. 7,000 BEST buses actually running, the number BEST officials themselves say the city needs, counted on the road rather than ordered
2. Buses frequent and predictable enough to plan a day around
3. Safer locals: track crowding, falls and station congestion, and send new capacity to the routes that need it most
4. A working first and last kilometre, with feeder buses and safe walking access to stations
5. Bus priority where practical, so a bus full of people isn't stuck like every car
6. Public tracking of every major transport promise

For us, it's one journey. The system should work like one too.

Addressed to: Maharashtra's Transport Minister · Goal: 50,000 signatures

How to sign: Accountable app → Maps → Petitions and Movements → United Mumbai for Better Transportation. The app link is in the pinned welcome post.

Over to you: which station or stretch is the worst part of your daily journey?