Bengaluru: After a two-decade-long struggle, a significant number of corporation wards, of the total 198, in the city held ward committee meetings on Saturday. While there was no official figure on the number of wards that conducted the meeting, it was organised at Mayor Gangambike’s Jayanagar ward, Bellandur, Benniganahalli, Shankara Matha, Jaraganahalli, Domlur, Sampangiramnagar, Shanthinagar, Jnana Bharati, Gandhi Nagar, Hoysalanagar and others.
In some wards like Benniganahalli, the number of citizens was more than the ward committee members.
Among the major issues that were discussed at the meetings were garbage, potholed roads, stray dogs, sale of cigarettes and tobacco products near schools and colleges, commercialisation of residential areas and indiscriminate use of plastic bags. Not just pointing out problems, the citizens also offered solutions to the BBMP. They warned Bescom and BWSSB officials and also contractors for laxity and advised them to be proactive.
Thanking all the corporators who held the ward committee meetings, Mr Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder, Citizens for Bengaluru, said, “We applaud the leadership shown by Mayor Gangambike. She walked the talk by running her own ward committee meeting and will inspire many others to follow. I sincerely believe that today is a historic day for self-governance in our city.
A quiet beginning has been made to move governance closer to the people. It is humanly impossible to tackle garbage and pothole issues sitting at Vidhana Soudha or even the BBMP head office in Hudson Circle. The 198 ward offices will have to play a key role in transforming our city. That process began today and it can only get better from here, provided we the citizens continue to participate like we did today.”
