Over 1,000 citizens submit inputs to MCC through MyCityMyBudget

The MyCityMyBudget campaign received overwhelming response with citizens, people representatives, residents’ associations, NGOs, among the various stakeholders, submitting their opinion on the city budget allocation in their respective wards.

In three days, Janaagraha was able to garner 1,060 responses (856 online and 204 offline) through MyCityMyBudget campaign launched by the Janaagraha Centre For Citizenship and Democracy.

Public opinion showed that construction and repair of roads, solid waste management and completion of underground drainage works, were among the top three priorities on which civic agencies should focus and spend money.

Over 27% citizens prioritised roads, 20% prioritised solid waste management, whereas 16% wanted public money to be spent on underground drainage works. Footpaths stood at 4th position with 14% citizens voting for the issue to be redressed, followed by drinking water supply at 10%, public toilets at 7% and streetlights at 6%. Inputs were received from all 60 wards of Mangaluru, and highest were received from Bejai, followed by Bendoor and Kadri South wards.

“The citizens of Mangaluru showed that when an opportunity is given to participate, they will make the best use of it. It is heartening to see Mayor, Deputy Mayor and corporators joining the commissioner in seeking public opinion. The ball is now in MCC court,” said Srinivas Alavilli, head, Civic Paricipation at Janaagraha.

The priorities, inputs and suggestions by the citizens were handed over to Mangaluru Mayor Diwakar, MCC commissioner Akshy Sridhar and Taxation, Finance and Appeal Standing Committee President Kiran Kumar on Saturday.

“We have received the MyCityMyBudget report from Janaagraha. We will go through this public consultation document, review the suggestions and priorities that are submitted by the citizens. The MyCityMyBudget report will help us understand what the citizens want and also plan, discuss in our meeting on effective utilisation of the budget,” said Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) commissioner Akshy Sridhar.

The campaign was aimed at eliciting citizen inputs in time for the city municipal budget, slated to be announced in the last week of January 2021, and enable councilors to consider citizen priorities for ward developmental plans.