Residents disinclined to be part of ward panels?

Hubballi: Notwithstanding the hue and cry from several citizens’ associations in the twin cities about the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities towards constituting ward committees, response from the residents to Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation’s invitation for applications to become members of these panels has been underwhelming. HDMC launched a drive three months ago to enrol residents in ward committees, so as to involve citizens in administration.
The 82 wards under the jurisdiction of the HDMC are grouped in 12 zones, and in some of these zones, response from the citizenry to the civic body’s initiative has been discouragingly poor. Each ward committee comprises 11 members, including the corporator, the de facto chairperson of the panel, while the remaining members are selected based on criteria to ensure equal representation of the complete cross-section of society – one member from the Scheduled Castes’ community, and one from Scheduled Tribes and three women, besides others.

In each of these categories, HDMC must receive at least 10 applications before the ward committee can be constituted. The HDMC even extended the deadline for submitting applications for membership in ward committees to June 17, the third time the last date was extended in as many months, but few citizens evinced interest. HDMC had also enlisted the assistance of an NGO to raise awareness among the people to assume a more proactive role in local administration.
Across the 82 wards, the HDMC should have received at least 820 applications from the residents, but only 560 residents responded to the civic agency’s invitation. By and large, this reflects the apathetic attitude of the residents towards participation in local administration.
In zone three, which comprises four wards, not a single resident has sought to become a member of the ward committee, while in zone seven, with nine wards under its purview, the HDMC has received 159 applications. Another zone that has registered very poor response from residents is zone 9, where only 17 residents have applied for a place on the ward panels.
HDMC commissioner B Gopalkrishna lamented the lack of response from the citizenry despite the multi-pronged campaign undertaken by the civic agency. “We tried to encourage people to join the ward committees by reaching out to them on social media, conducting workshops and even working on the ground. But we have not received enough applications to form committees in several wards,” Gopalkrishna told TOI.
The HDMC commissioner said that the issue would be tabled for discussion at the general body meeting scheduled to be heard at the end of June. “We will initiate the process to constitute committees in those wards where we have received enough applications,” he added.
Gopalkrishna said that the corporators would be called on to encourage their constituents to participate eagerly in local administration, particularly in those wards where response to the initiative was poor.