Representatives of Bengaluru Ward Samiti Balaga, a coalition of civic groups and citizens, met with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath on June 4 to present the resolutions passed in a recent convention to strengthen ward committees. A survey done by Janaagraha on ward committees was also submitted to the chief commissioner. The convention named ‘Bruhat Bengaluru Ward Samiti Samavesha’ was held on May 28. A key reform suggested is to form a ward committee monitoring cell at the division level within each zone to ensure the proper conduct of ward committee meetings and actions based on them. The representatives said that the chief commissioner responded favourably to all the suggestions and said the BBMP was keen to empower zonal level administration and ensure ward committees were held regularly. In the coming days, the BBMP will appoint new nodal officers in all wards as needed. Divisional officers will be allotted wards by roster (to visit different ward committees in the division). A training programme is to be conducted for nodal officers on ward committees. A standard format for conducting ward committee meetings will be put in place focusing on maintenance functions that citizens can monitor. Escalation process to divisional level will be put in place for different departments (like lakes, solid waste management, storm water drains etc). The BBMP budget will be broken down at zonal levels for easier tracking, Bengaluru Ward Samiti Balaga said in a release. The coalition also informed that the chief commissioner also indicated that as per this year’s BBMP budget (2022-23), each ward would receive Rs 1 crore (Rs 30 lakh for footpaths, Rs 30 lakh for potholes and Rs 40 lakh for drain desilting). Last year, the BBMP allocated Rs 60 lakh to each ward. Srinivas Alavilli from NGO Janaagraha said: “Our meeting with the chief commissioner filled us with great hope for decentralized participatory governance with ward committees. It is easy to complain and criticize but difficult to collaborate constructively because ward committees are not functioning well. We look forward to the reforms promised by the chief commissioner and working with nodal and divisional officers and zonal commissioners in the coming days. We are particularly pleased that ward level allocations have been increased to Rs 1 crore this year from Rs 60 lakh last year.” Vidya Goggi, member of Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) governing council, said: ”BAF has encouraged apartment residents to actively participate in ward committees of their respective wards. Apartments are subsets of wards. Apartment associations manage their complex area by taking care of compliances, operational aspects, resource management, sustainable practices and maintaining harmony within apartments. The same principles can be extended to ward management. With our Balaga partnership, we hope to make the ward committees function effectively - with an eye on routine maintenance, new ward needs and ward budgets, citizen-oriented, and accountability of all stakeholders concerned.” The resolutions passed at the convention were: The BBMP chief commissioner to issue an order to the zonal commissioner for the setting up of divisional level ward committee cells within the next month, make zonal commissioners responsible for the effective functioning of the ward committee meetings, through the review of divisional level ward committee cells, conduct ward committee meetings in November and December for budget allocation through ward development plan, draft a new process for the selection of ward committee members and publish it for public review.
