FOCUS-DECEMBER 2020

WARD COMMITTEES IN MANGALOORU CITY CORPORATION: AN EXPERIMENT IN GRASSROOT DEMOCRACY Democracy, we are told, is a form of “government of the people, by the people and for the people”, so said Abraham Lincoln while addressing at Gettysburg on November 1, 1863, after abolishing slavery in the United States of America. The principle, that a government of the people has to live and work for the people is the corner stone of governance, was never in doubt. However, it was the possibility of corruption, in the use of national resources that introduced a dimension of concern for the success or failure of governance, within a democratic milieu. All of us are privy to the knowledge that every administration of a country needs financial and human resources. But since it was the human resources that needed management skills so that resources of the nation are made use of, in the best possible way of getting the best at least cost. This aspect always ran the risk of committing error, both intentional and unintentional. It is always possible to correct the unintentional mistakes. But it is the intentional mistakes, which can lead to loss of resources to the country and result in undeserved benefits to underserved beneficiaries. While nation as a whole can be divided into states, states into districts, districts into taluks, the national financial pie is distributed according to the needs and requirements of each of these units, like taluks, districts, states and the federal unit to govern the entire country. There are mechanisms, enshrined in the national documents like the Constitution which decide the question of resource allocation accompanied by regulatory tools to oversee that these resources allocated are properly utilised and result in useful creation of infrastructure and has been able to pay for the human cost of management, administration of delivery mechanism, etc. Everywhere due to the human dimension, the regulatory tools play significant role in ensuring that every pie of the resource mobilized and allotted has been properly and adequately accounted for. Coming down further from Taluk to cities, towns and villages, all these units of human habitation need resources and all such mechanism that are needed at both state and federal levels are also needed at the bottom of the pyramid. Here we are attempting to talk about the administration of cities and therefore will confine to only Municipal Corporation, which is the administrative structure, managed by a Municipal Commissioner, with the whole jing-bang of administrative apparatus, under the overall supervision of Corporation Council, consisting of elected corporators from different wards within the city. This Municipal Council shall have an elected mayor from among the elected corporators. This particular excercise is in respect of Mangalore City Corporation, in the wake of the possible constitution of Ward Committees. In Mangalore City Corporation limits, there are 60 wards with sixty elected corporators. Each ward is expected to have 10 ward committee members therefore, 600 ward committee members are expected to be there to participate in the activities of 60 wards in its development programme. It was in 1992; that the Union government had amended the Constitution and enacted The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992, to improve the performance of Urban Local Bodies, like Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats etc. Basically it was intended to give additional powers and responsibilities to these bodies with respect to impose / collect taxes beside revenue sharing with state exchequer, so also conduct periodic elections regularly. Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act 2011, envisage the creation of Ward Committees with basic intention of institutionalizing citizens participation in Municipality functions. 13H of the above act informs that there shall be a Ward Committee for each ward in the corporation. There shall be 10 members nominated by the corporation, which shall include 2 members from SC & ST, 3 women members, 2 from registered housing societies situated in the Ward. The Chairman of the ward committee will be the corporator representing the ward. Among the duties of the ward committee is the preparation of Ward Development Scheme in accordance with the budget allotted by the corporation. There will be a secretary to the ward committee, appointed by the commissioner, an officer of an appropriate rank, to provide administrative assistance to the ward committee. Secretary shall keep the minutes of the meetings of ward committee and shall keep reporting to the corporation through the commissioner. Ward Committee shall meet at least once a month, and secretary shall be the convener of the meeting after consulting the Chairman, who is the ward corporator. According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act 2011, following functions are assigned to Ward Committees. a. Prepare and submit ward development schemes to the corporation for allotment of funds. b. Ensure proper utilization of the funds allotted under ward development scheme in the ward. c. Approve the list of beneficiaries for beneficiary oriented schemes of the corporation. d. Scrutinize list of ineligible beneficiaries to be submitted to the corporation e. Supervise all programmes and schemes being implemented by the corporation in the ward. f. Ensure timely collection of taxes, fees and other sums due to the corporation. g. Ensure water supply maintenance in the ward and finalise location of new public taps and public wells. h. Ensure sewerage system maintenance in the ward. i. Ensure proper solid waste management and sanitation work in the ward and finalize location of new public sanitation units. j. Ensure maintenance of street lighting in the ward and finalise location of new street lights. k. Ensure maintenance of parks, open spaces, greening of area in the ward. l. Ensure afforestation and implementation of rain water harvesting schemes. m. Mobilise voluntary labour and donation by way of goods or money for implementation of ward development schemes and various programme and schemes of corporation. n. Inform the corporation regarding any encroachment of land belonging to the corporation. o. Perform such other functions as may be assigned to it by the corporation as per its byelaws. From the above details of enumerated functions of Ward Committees it is very clear that it is loaded with lot of responsibilities, which every corporator should have been doing, but apparently failed to do, and hence this need for Ward Committees has arisen. This is governance in its truest form. As mentioned already in the forgone details, it is the resource mobilization and its utilization where it is most needed and the role of all peoples’ representatives from Members of Parliament in Loksabha/Rajyasabha down to the village panchayat elected members in standing as guardian of public interest and its accountability. Ward Committee at the level of corporation has come to, not only strengthen the hands of corporators to make their roles more effective but also to question them where things have not gone as planned and as desired. It is true that, what Ward Committees have been designed for the purpose of being sentinel to proper management and delivery of resources to its ultimate beneficiaries at the city level, similar constituency committees are not there for assembly segment, so also for Parliamentary constituencies. May be someday even MLAs and MPs shall be made accountable for the responsibility imposed on them. Here it is pertinent to note that although the formation of Ward Committees was mandated in 1992 constitutional amendment it was only in 2011, Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act was enacted. Even then, it took almost 10 years to see it happen on the ground. In Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) it was after a citizens’ action group filed a PIL in Karnataka High Court and on August 8, 2019 the HC in Bengalooru positively upheld the demand of the civic group and directed authorities to notify Area Sabhas before the ward elections and form Ward Committees after the elections to MCC council. Indeed it is to the credit of MCC to have adopted the agenda on formation of Ward Committees at its meeting of August 13, 2020, and of course the persistence of the MCC Civic group. Coming to the immense possibilities by forming these Ward Committees, it can be safely said, that it can only have a positive impact, with the degree of success depending upon the involvement of its members and their commitment to the larger cause. Take for example Under Ground Drainage (UGD) scheme of MCC. It was during the period of Mr. JR Lobo, as the Municipal Commissioner that UGD scheme was taken up and implemented with finance from Asian Development Bank. Construction of Under Ground Drainage was not only never completed but, where ever completed never put to use. Who can be held responsible for this mismanagement of civic affairs and resultant financial burden / loss? However what need to be understood and appreciated is that the ADB loan was on $ repayment terms, something no nation with falling currency exchange rate should have accepted. When the loan was availed Dollar Rupee exchange was less than Rs. 50, now it is more than 75, so already 50% increase in the burden. Besides why at all ADB loan was availed, when our own banks were awash with money even then in 2001, so also reportedly HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation ) offered to fund the MCC projects, where only rupee payment was needed without the risk of exchange rate going haywire. Another humiliating aspect of this ADR loan was the condition that the credit worthiness of funding MCC projects had to be cleared by NEDECO, a Dutch consulting firm, which cost MCC Rs. 3 crores. Any Indian bank or HUDCO would have had no cost for loan application appraisal. So there appears to be questionable details in this ADB loan for MCC projects. Going back to the development of coastal districts of D.K, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, the Karnataka government of HD Deve Gowda in 1994 drew up a plan and named it KUDCEMP (Karnataka Urban Development & Coastal Environment Project). It certainly needed funding. Like all financing companies, ADB too was marketing big-time money on federal guarantees of national governments. Like defence purchases here too there are middle men- with their own terms of offer. That’s how instead of opting for locally available funding from Indian Banks or even HUDCO, somebody at the decision making level in Bengalooru opted for ADB loan. ADB granted $251.4 million (Rs. 1056 crores in 2001 exchange rate) for projects in the above 3 districts mainly for water supply, drainage, roads etc. However, when it was realized that the repayment of this loan has to be through additional taxes from people, NGOs in Dakshina Kannada, especially in Mangalooru were alerted, to raise questions on the project. An NGO Task Force, got into the nitty-gritty of the projects in Mangalooru. They got retired engineers and auditors to study the technical and financial aspect of the project. It turned out that an amount of around Rs. 350 crores inclusive of loan and interest has to be raised from people- citizens of Mangalooru-as taxes and charges for the next 25 years. This estimate was without the exchange escalation. Now it may appear to be more than 525 crores, with the prevailing $-Re exchange rate. This looks pretty serious. Here it is pertinent to inform Mangalooru citizens that the NGO Task Force made detailed study of the project and indicated that plenty of unnecessary works were included in the project and if these works are removed, the project cost would be considerably reduced. They proposed to have a clear contour map of the city for water supply and drainage pipeline. Reportedly authorities had then replied “We will draw the map when the project will be implemented”. But, excuse me, ‘how did you estimate the cost of Rs. 107.9 crores for water supply and Rs. 135.7 crores for drainage pipes without the underground map. And how can a project be approved without proper estimate?’ Questions have remained questions. Status now is, MCC has availed ADB loan, did some jobs on UGD and waterline. The fact is UGD services are not available to the city even after close to 20 years. So what has happened to the project, now that ADB has to be paid back their loan! Isn’t this a massive scam? This needs to be comprehensively investigated to get to the bottom of it. If only Ward Committees were there, it could have been avoided. Of course, this is only one issue of the ADB loan, which we all have to pay someday without any benefit coming our way. Then there are ongoing yearly exercises of budget presentation with revenues received by the MCC and its outlay on infrastructure development and maintenance of services etc. There are N number of loop-holes where there are leakages, which are not controlled. For example look at the Swatch Mangalooru Abhiyan, where Ramakrishna Mission has set a huge example, what it means to be Swatch Mangalooru, a job MCC was supposed to have done through its contractors, but failed to do. Issues involving garbage collection and disposal, the terms of contract for the garbage collectors and failure to correct problems posed by the contractor, issues of city roads & drain cleanliness, irresponsible work culture of contractor and his men, irresponsible response of civic officials of MCC are some of the other issues for the Ward Committee to attend and correct. Dredging and cleaning of water bodies and ponds within the city limits are some of the areas on which MCC could seriously debate and Ward Committees can make useful contribution in this respect. Then you have many road related contracts awarded which need monitoring from estimation, planning, execution, besides quality control, so that the contractor truly does an honest job for the money that he takes and utility is available to citizens. There are allegations that, estimates are generally made more than the cost and jobs are done poorly. So not only has MCC paid more but even jobs have not been done satisfactorily. So it is a multiplier loss, which Ward Committees can stop. While on the subject, the issue of Area Sabhas not being activated and Area Sabha Representatives (ASRs) not having been nominated by the MCC Commissioner prior to the setting up of Ward Committees has been pointed out by activists. Despite this being pointed out as early as in March 2020, no action has been taken by the MCC Commissioner. Activists contended that the State Urban Development Department had notified 121 ‘Areas’under the 60 wards of MCC(each ward being sub-divided into about two ‘Areas’) for the purpose of constituting ‘Area Sabhas’, in which every voter of the Area can participate. [The Urban Development Department notified the ‘Areas’ only after a Contempt petition (CCC 117/2020) about non-notification of ‘Areas’ as per the HC order was filed by Mr. Narendra Kumar of Nagarika Shakti.]The KMC (Amdt.) Act of 2011 requires the ward councillor to recommend the names of persons to be nominated as ASRs to the Corporation,once the Areas are notified by the State government. If the councilor fails to do so within 90 days of the constitution/re-constitution of the Council, then the Commissioner has to recommend the names of ASRs to the Corporation. Activists feel that all voters of a particular area meeting in the presence of a nodal officer nominated by the MCC Commissioner will go a long way in addressing multiple issues concerning the civic administration and also provide an opportunity to enhance the culture of bonhomie in a country like India with its multiplicity of ethos. Here it is pertinent to mention that not nominating the ASR and the non-setting up of Area Sabhas by the MCC Commissioner amounts to contempt of court. This dimension also brings into focus the role of Mangalooru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL). According to the Smart City Mission Guidelines, the objective of the Smart City Mission is to promote cities that “provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens”. Core infrastructure elements are: a) Adequate water supply; b) Assured electricity supply; c) Sanitation including waste management; d) Citizens participation; e) Health and education. The proposed smart solutions are: a) Citizens’ eyes & ears; b) Video crime monitoring; c) Converting waste to energy; d) waste to compost; e) Leakage identification and preventive methods. However, from what is available in the public domain, we gather that MSCL is engaged in spending its scarce resources on projects with questionable utility. So, through this write-up, whole-hearted participation by citizens of Mangalooru to get included in the Ward Committees is requested. This will only bring greater benefit to the city and by extension to all of us, the citizens, and lead to a better life for all. Let us all try to make Mangalooru a model city. Hope it becomes one.