Redraw wards periodically, but no politics

After much delay, the delimitation of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wards is scheduled to be completed by January to increase the number of wards from the current 198 to 243. The objective is to improve the city’s governance system.

The intention is also to make the Palike more representative by incorporating more ward committees and area sabhas. Will all these objectives be met? DH interacts with a cross-section of people to get their views. Prof Kiran Jeevan from St Joseph’s College has this to say: “What is more important than increasing the number of wards is implementing good governance. It’s not about the number but about how policies and programmes that are meant for the people reach them.”

It is important, he says, that corruption and other illegal work must be stopped. “A mechanism to have regular appraisal is the need of the hour. Allocation of funds and proper implementation with regular feedback must be a priority.”

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Rajkumar Dugar, Founder and Convenor of Citizens for Citizens (C4C) says: “The objective of having uniformity in the population of wards is quite reasonable. Otherwise, we will have highly populated wards getting similar support as less populated wards. So, delimitation of BBMP wards should not be delayed.”

By now, he points out, “systems must be in place so that these kinds of exercises can be completed on high priority, say once every 10 or 20 years. Also, the drawing of ward boundaries should not be done for political conveniences. Major roads should form boundaries and the entire exercise should be automated.”

Delimitation of wards may not change much of the services. “Ward committees must be given more powers to bring improvements in a time-bound manner. Even though Bengaluru’s Municipal Corporation was formed about 160 years ago, we are still grappling with very basic problems like garbage, streetlights, potholes, bad roads, air and noise pollution, blocked drains, etc.”

Every year, he says, “we are informed about new deadlines for each of the basic services. It is high time the new ward committees are given more powers for some real progress.”

Mathew M George, an Assistant Professor at Christ College and a resident of Sarjapura, contends: “Increasing the number of wards will definitely increase the number of houses and settlements in Bengaluru, which can also result in unauthorised construction of flats and houses. This is just another reason for chopping down the trees and increasing temperature. Earlier it was for the construction of Bengaluru Metro. But now it’s BBMP itself monitoring these initiatives.”

Aishwarya, who resides in Mathikere feels that increasing the number of wards will help bring the Palike’s services to the grassroots. “The ward committee members can potentially be empowered. We need efficient local members to be in these committees so that they can take care of the minute problems.” On delimitation, she hopes BBMP will stick to the deadline, unlike last time.