BBMP ward panel selection: Activists file mass RTI

Bengaluru: Over a hundred citizens thronged BBMP RTI cell located at its head office on Friday. Those citizens whose name did not figure in the final list of ward committees of 131 wards, filed mass RTI applications.

They wanted to know what happened to their application and what process was used for selection. Around 65 active citizens young and old, men and women, including a 85-year-old retired teacher, filed RTIs.

Srinivas Alavilli, Coordinator, Citizens for Bengaluru, told Deccan Chronicle, "Hundreds of active citizens came forward when the court ruled that ward committees should be formed."

Despite the court ruling, the entire process was reduced to a farce as only those people who were close to corporators made it to the list, he said.

The high court had explicitly asked BBMP Commissioner to take ownership of the process instead of diluting it. Yet we find ourselves in the same situation, he lamented.

We hope that due process is established and made public and then ward committees get formed, he added.

Kathyayini Chamaraj of CIVIC Bangalore and others joined the protest.