A farce or in true spirit?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Participatory budgeting is not a new idea. It has been successfully experimented by many western urban and rural civic bodies. The aim is to make residents an integral part of the policy and decision making by engaging them in discussions and aiding decisions of local importance.

So, when the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation decided to introduce this new concept, a first of its kind in the state, it was lauded. However, it has also raised eyebrows as the officials solicited suggestions from people only two weeks ahead of the budget which will be announced on Monday.  However, the short notice has raised eyebrows with many questioning the true intention of the participatory budget, whether it was truly meant to hand over powers to residents, or just another consultation tool in disguise?
So far 7,240 suggestions have been submitted from the public to the Corporation.

The million-dollar question is whether the corporation would be able to incorporate or devise projects based on the suggestions received two days in advance of the budget presentation.  Though the ruling front is confident on the successful implementation of the budget, especially since it was able to garner a huge response from the public, the Opposition parties call it a gimmick to cover up the un-implemented projects that were announced in the previous budget.

The local body has arranged various platforms to gather people’s opinions. They have asked the public to dole out suggestions  through the Corporation’s Smart Trivandrum app, ward-level meetings, and also a suggestion box - which is set up in front of the Corporation’s each zonal offices, budget vehicle and via e-mail (tvmmayor@gmail.com).

Three categories

Based on the compilation result, Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar, who will be presenting the budget on Monday told Express that they have sorted the suggestions in three categories, based on demand. According to her, the top priority sectors are corporation's housing scheme, health and education. "We were glad to see the results. Most of the suggestions were regarding the implementation of housing schemes. Maximum response was received from the ward-level meeting conducted by the corporation at different wards," said Rakhi.  

The civic body has drafted a suggestion form to facilitate the public to come up with development prospects of their respective areas. “Due to the upcoming general elections, we have to present the budget earlier this year. So we plan to launch the participatory budget only on a trial basis this year. It will be fully implemented in the corporation's next budget 2020-21. Since a very short time was given to the public, we drew up forms including a list of options to make the process easy for them,” said Rakhi.

Meanwhile the opposition leaders alleged the whole new concept of the corporation was a show off. “Though the concept is good, we are clueless on how they are going to implement it in such a short time-frame. We had told the  Mayor V K Prasanth that the plan would have been more successful, if suggestions were called six months ago. The ruling front decided to implement the participatory budget plan without discussing the matter with us. They are just trying to hide their failure in implementing projects that were declared in the previous budget,” said M R Gopan, BJP leader in the Corporation council.