After 40 months, HDMC calls general body meeting

Hubballi: Elected to the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) last year, the corporators, who were formally sworn in only a month ago, will attend the first general body meeting of the civic agency to be held in 40 months on Thursday. The protracted delay in holding elections to the HDMC Council, coupled with the delay in holding the mayoral polls, meant that the civic agency had not held a general body meeting since March 1, 2019, when Sudheer Saraf had presided over the event.
Following delimitation, the number of wards under the purview of the HDMC rose from the previous 67 to 82. Consequently, the authorities were forced to make changes to the HDMC Auditorium in Hubballi, where the general body meeting is held, to accommodate more members. In addition to the corporators of all 82 wards, and HDMC officials, the meeting will be attended by representatives of the press and public.
Sources said that the existing auditorium would be too congested, given that it now has to accommodate more corporators. “In the absence of an elected body, officials took decisions on various development projects. Now, the corporators will review the status of projects, and decide on execution of new ones,” a source said.
The general body meeting scheduled on Thursday is expected to be a stormy affair, with corporators in the opposition likely to question the HDMC officials on their apathetic attitude towards fixing the city’s roads, the poor state of the underground drainage system, et al. Furthermore, HDMC’s decision to delegate to a private company the key responsibility of supplying drinking water, which has triggered protests, will be debated at the meeting.
A source said that the delay in formation of ward committees was also likely to be discussed at the meeting. “A few corporators are not very keen on constituting ward panels,” the source said.
HDMC additional commissioner Shankarananda Banashankari told TOI, “We have made arrangements to ensure that all the 82 corporators can sit comfortably in the auditorium, which is equipped with an AC system, and a projector. We have also set up galleries for representatives of the media, and an enclosure for the general public, besides installing closed circuit television cameras inside and outside. There will be a condolence session, discussion, followed by zero hour.”