Citizens suggest reforms to strengthen ward committees

Many participants opined that a SOP be put in place to draw up a better structure to the meetings between Resident Welfare Associations and BBMP officials

More than 250 active citizens and ward committee members from across 105 wards congregated at the ‘Bruhat Bengaluru Ward Samiti Samavesha’, held in the city on Saturday, to suggest reforms to strengthen ward committees.

The members suggested that empowering the nodal officers could help streamline the process. “Though the nodal officers are responsible for holding the meetings, many a time they cut a sorry figure since officials from many other departments fail to respond. The nodal officers should be given powers to summon officials from all the departments,” suggested Anjali Saini, a member of Whitefield Rising.

Also, many of the participants opined that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) be put in place to draw up a better structure to the meetings between Resident Welfare Associations and BBMP officials.

The residents of Bommanahalli suggested that an escalation matrix be prepared to hold officials accountable. “Though few wards hold regular meetings, it has not been useful since none of the problems are addressed. An escalation matrix should be put in place so that people know whom to contact in case their grievances are not addressed by an official.”

Many others also suggested that the BBMP could come up with better means to advertise the meeting schedule. From the distribution of pamphlets to using garbage trucks to make announcements on the schedule of ward committee meetings, citizens suggested that a better communication channel needs to be established to keep the people informed of the meetings.

Pointing out that many of the wards do not record the proceedings of the meetings, residents suggested that the meetings could be shown on social media platforms and the BBMP could maintain a ward-specific portal to upload the minutes of meetings. They felt keeping a record of the meetings could help officials understand and implement citizens’ concerns in a better way.

The samavesha was organised jointly by various civil society organisations, NGOs, and RWAs such as Janaagraha, BPAC, Sensing Local, Changemakers of Kanakapura, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), Whitefield Rising, Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), Citizen Participation Program (BBMP SWM), APSA Bengaluru, in association with Department of Public Policy, Mount Carmel College.