BBMP ward panels a good draw

Bengaluru: The  BBMP,  which has been given time till June 17 by the high court to set up ward committees, has been suddenly deluged with applications recently from people nominating themselves to them. As many as 850 applications were received by the Citizens for Bengaluru till Thursday evening in the aftermath of its recent publicity initiative, 'Namma Samithi'.

Ask Mr Srinivas Alavilli, coordinator of Citizens for Bengaluru, about the response from people to the ward committees, and he admits it has surpassed all  expectations. “We know a lot of citizens work for the city,  but now there is a strong desire to be part of the system,”  he notes happily, adding, “ “We often complain about lack of hygiene, potholes and garbage. But now the ward committees provide an excellent opportunity to engage with the government on such issues.”

While  a  number of people  believe that corporators will get their cronies appointed to the ward committees, Ms Kathyayini Chamaraj, executive trustee of  CIVIC Bengaluru, doesn’t have any such apprehensions. “The BBMP headed by the commissioner should constitute the committees and not the corporator,” Ms Kathyayini insists. Mr Alavalli too observes that people are counting on the BBMP commissioner,  who has assured them of using a fair process to select ward committee members.

Although there are clear guidelines on the composition of a ward committee,  several domestic workers, who tried to submit applications for becoming is members, were allegedly rejected by their corporators saying the list had already been finalised.  “We welcome the fact that more people are interested, but we must ensure that the ward committees are representative and truly reflect the diverse population of the city," said Mr Vinay Sreenivasa of Bengaluru Jilla Beedhi Vyapaari Sanghatengala Okkuta