JOIN US49 wards have less than 10 members in draft ward committees
The draft list of nominated members for 60 Ward Committees (WCs) was released by Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) on Monday.
Out of 60 ward-level committees, 49 committees have less than 10 members. It is mandatory for a ward-level committee to have 10 members as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act of 2011. The MCC had received more than 1,200 applications from citizens to the ward committees when applications were invited in November 2020.
Only 11 wards had 10 members. Two wards have only five eligible members each and one ward has only four members.
Katipalla East, Bangra Kuloor, Kavoor, Pacchanady, Padavu Central, Padavu East, Port, Milagres, Kankanady, Attavar and Jeppu wards have 10 members. Idya West and Mannagudda wards have only five members each. Bengre ward has the least number of four candidates to represent the ward committee.
MCC Commissioner Akshay Sridhar said that the draft list was uploaded on the corporation’s website, social media and on the notice board.
“The objections should be filed within a period of 15 days at zonal offices addressed to Zonal Commissioners and Inventory Officers at Central Office or email it to mccwardcommittee@gmail.com,” he said.
Mangaluru gets a pat
The MCC Commissioner said after getting grievances from public, they will conduct a meeting before publishing the final list of 60 ward-level committees.
Close on the heels of MCC announcing a provisional list of the ward committees, Janaagraha Head (civic participation) Srinivas Alavilli congratulated Mangaluru for becoming the second city in Karnataka and one of the very few cities in India to have ward-level committees.
Janaagraha had organised series of webinars and awareness programmes in Mangaluru. The promise of ward committees is realised only when members work in a constructive manner with local elected representatives and officials. Ward Committees realise the dream of Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj by enabling citizens to participate in democracy not just to raise complaints but also to plan development of their own ward, he added.
Applicants cry foul
Many residents took to social media to vent their frustration after finding their names missing from the list of members in their ward-level committees.
Shyamala Kamath, an elderly woman who had submitted her application for Attavar ward, had emailed her protest.
Another application sent an email seeking clarification on the selection criteria. The person said the background verification of many members who were in both BJP and Congress parties had not been done.
Rights activist M G Hegde said while activists went to court and mounted pressure on the MCC to set up ward committees, the corporators ensured that it was men and women loyal to them who were nominated as members of ward-level committee.