ward committee

The fate of the contentious steel flyover is uncertain now with the imposition of an interim stay order for four weeks by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), but the project is far from being scrapped. A media report suggests that the  the Chief Minister has ordered officials to commence work from the Hebbal side, with indications that the government may be open to consultations regarding developments south of Mekhri circle. The steel flyover has seen one of the biggest civil society mobilisations ever in Bengaluru, with very vocal public protests and petitions against the project involving people from different walks of life.…

​The Urban Development Department (UDD) has published the draft of the Kamataka Municipal Corporations - Ward committee Rules, 2013 on May 26th 2015. Kathyayini Chamaraj, Trustee CIVIC, says they had not announced or published it on the UDD website. When Citizen Matters checked the website on June 8th 2015, the ticker on the homepage still carried the rules that were gazetted on November 10th 2014.   Kathyayini says that when she enquired about the rules on multiple visits to the UDD office, the standard response was that it would take ten days and the like. When she visited the office on June 4th…

In the recent past, there have been quite a few instances where the courts have intervened with respect to civic projects. The recent one was when the Karnataka High Court directed civic agencies to widen the Hulimavu-Begur road- a case where the BBMP and a real estate company were at loggerheads. In another case, the Karnataka High Court directed the BBMP to get rid of encroachments on footpaths – this order was passed in response to a petition filed by an individual to make footpaths accessible to pedestrians. Yet another case was when the High Court ruled mixed land use…

Participate in a workshop on Ward Committee Roles and Responsibilities for a Greener, Cleaner, Safer, Water secure and Healthy Bengaluru. Date: Thursday 22nd May 2014 Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Venue: Environment Support Group – Training Centre, 1575, Intermediate Ring Road, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560070 Why this workshop: Bengaluru is increasingly becoming an unaffordable and difficult city to live in.  Never ending traffic congestion, expensive public transportation, garbage lying everywhere, no water in taps, borewells running dry, lakes getting polluted (even disappearing overnight), heat, noise and air pollution everywhere, rampant tree felling has become a feature of every neighbourhood.  Women, children and senior citizens…

At the beginning of the year, BBMP finally started the process of formation of ward committees (WC). But many WCs remained only on papers. High Court intervened again on 27 August and asked the government to finalise rules for the committee soon. The state Urban Development Department (UDD) has issued draft rules. Environment Support Group (ESG), an NGO that has, for many years, campaigned to establish local government or 'Nagar Palike,' organised a discussion to suggest revisions to the draft rules formulated by the state government for the formation and functioning of WC. An open discussion was held on 4…

As part of the Solid Waste Management PIL, the High Court asked BBMP to setup the ward committees to help monitor SWM contracts etc.The question of ward committees came up in the case when talking about decentralisation and audits on waste management, says Ajesh Kumar Shankar, lawyer for the petitioner. “Currently no one knows about who clears the waste in a street in a ward, how much is billed for it, who gets paid etc. There is a requirement that an NGO or RWA in the area should sign the bill; contractors get away by ‘creating’ some groups who sign…

I welcome and support the demand from various citizens groups, media and RWAs for transparency in nominations to the ward committees.The demand to constitute the ward committees is a long standing one and residents and other citizen groups have sought this for several years and this had been included in the recommendations of ABIDe chaired by then Chief Minister. It is fortunate that the High Court of Karnataka has intervened when requests from citizens had failed to move the Government and BBMP to act.So, now the BBMP must ensure transparent criteria in appointments of members to the committee and ensure…

The ruckus over the formation of ward committees is exposing the failures of city governance in a big way, and pointing to its main cause - the exclusion of citizens from decision-making. But that's not all. It is also exposing the hollowness of the legislative space, which also needs to be urgently fixed.I am told that the Bommanahalli MLA opposes the formation of ward committees. I don't want to pick on one person, but let's look at the facts objectively. No BJP MLA should ever say that they're against ward committees. Why? Because they were the ones who voted for…