Bengaluru: As part of its ‘I Change My City’ initiative, Bengaluru NGO, Janagrahaa, held the ‘Bangalore Civic Fest’ at the Freedom Park on Thursday, for the first time bringing civic bodies and ordinary people under one roof to thrash out various issues concerning it.
Present were hundreds of citizens, urban experts, citizen groups, school and college children and representatives of civic bodies.
Explaining the concept, Ms Sapna Karim, head of Janagrahaa’s civic participation section, said, “Many citizens do not know how the government works. They just think government is a monolith. We aimed to demystify this first and also provide the government with an opportunity to understand the people’s needs. The idea was to bring all civil society organisations at one place to plan and work together for the betterment of the city in all manners as well.” She continued, “Take solid waste management as an example. We have many civic organisations working on it, and some of them feel that it should be broadly taught to children, who could then take the lead in spreading the message to their families and friends. These kind of festivals help bring experts, school children and officials together.”
With over 1,500 children from different parts of the city taking part in various events, the fest featured storytelling, playback theatre, a magic show, Yakshagana, a drawing competition, cultural programmes and even a rock concert, all focused on the theme of active citizenship.
Mayor Gangambike laudded the fest organisers for involving schoolchildren in civic problems. “We all need to consider Bengaluru our home and only when we work with that mindset can we solve its problems. I request all citizens to take up issues like waste segregation in their homes so we can all contribute to a better Bengaluru,” she said.
