Citizens for Bengaluru (CFB) on Sunday honoured corporators who regularly held ward committee meetings.
As many as 51 local representatives received Corporator 1 Namma Samiti Puraskaara for holding at least four meetings in the last six months. Some of the corporators held the monthly meetings for all the six months.
Opposition leader in the council Padmanabha Reddy, among the awardees, said ward committees are the best forums to address civic issues. “I use this stage to urge Justice Santosh Hegde and other eminent people in the audience `to ensure funds and functions are given urban local bodies like the BBMP. We need to strengthen the third tier of governance to deliver services better and increase accountability and transparency,” he said.
Gangambike Mallikarjun from Jayanagar and Gurumurthy Reddy from HSR Layout were among the awardees for holding all the six meetings.
Justice Hegde, the chief guest at the function who held a town hall, said he was warned against attending a function to award politicians. “But I know there are good people in politics too and it’s our collective responsibility to recognize their good work,” he said.
Hegde reminded the elected representatives that they were public servants and have to uphold the values of the Constitution while performing their duties.
CFB co-founder Srinivas Alavilli said the function marks Bengaluru’s giant leap towards local self-governance. “Several winners of the award told us they feel more accountable after the award. We hope these awards inspire all the 198 corporators to not only hold the monthly meetings but also drastically improve the quality of those meetings. We also hope more citizens come forward to take part in the ward meetings,” he said.
Another CFB co-founder Tara Krishnaswamy said: “A pat on the back can encourage responsible corporators to do better, and those not holding the ward committee meetings to realize that their respondents don’t rate them high.”