Senior officers to supervise ward committee meetings

In a bid to make all ward committees functional and effective, the BBMP has decided to deploy senior officers to supervise the meetings on a rotational basis.

The move comes after many residents complained that the nodal officers were not taking interest in holding meetings in most wards, which are supposed to be held on the first Saturday of every month.

When BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath attended public grievance meetings in different zonal offices, a regular complaint was with respect to the ward committees. Either the nodal officer of the ward was transferred or he or she did not convene a meeting despite clear instructions to hold it every month.

“All chief engineers, joint commissioners and zonal commissioners will play a supervisory role. They are expected to visit different wards and monitor how the meetings are held. This is being done to make ward committees effective,” Girinath told DH.

“The zonal commissioners have also been told to appoint a ward nodal officer of the respective zone instead of choosing the ward that is closer to their ward.”

Bengaluru Ward Samiti Balaga, a forum of active residents, welcomed the decision. “Appointing a supervising officer for every division was one of the requests made by the forum. The BBMP should also take up training and capacity-building of nodal officers to further improve the functioning of ward committees.”

As the BBMP has allowed the zonal offices to decide on the distribution of Rs 2,000 crore for purposes such as garbage disposal, and maintenance of parks and streetlights, etc, ward committees could play an important role in ensuring the best use of these funds. In the 2022-23 budget, the BBMP has also set aside Rs 1 crore per ward for undertaking works such as pothole-filling and footpath improvement.

'Step in right direction'

Srinivas Alavilli, head of civic participation at Janaagraha, a non-profit civic trust, said ward committee meetings were the only place where officers from multiple departments came together to solve a range of issues.

“Any steps to strengthen ward committees are
welcome.

“The BMTC has also instructed the depot managers to be present at the ward committees. With this, we will have representation of most departments in the ward committees. It’s a step in the right direction,” he added.

New BBMP special commissioner (finance)

The state government on Monday appointed Jayaram Raipura as Special Commissioner (Finance) in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in place of Thulasi Maddineni, who has been transferred as Secretary of the Backward Classes Welfare Department.

Raipura, an IRS officer, was deputed to Karnataka from the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, on July 4.

He will also hold the concurrent charge of secretary-2 to the chief minister with immediate effect and until further orders, said a notification issued by H R Anuradha, Under Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (Services-5).