Dr. Meenakshi Bharath
What do you know about the City Corporation?
Do you know who is responsible for the roads, parks, public health, drains, and garbage clearance in your neighbourhood? It is not the Central or the State Governments- the correct answer is the City Corporation.
The corporation in a city is the lowest tier of Government.-known as the third tier-or Local Govt. For administrative purposes any city is broken into wards. Now with the increase in the city size and the population, the number of wards has increased.. Each ward will have a population of 20-40,000 people approximately. Each ward elects its own municipal councillor during city corporation elections. He/she plays a vital role in discharging the functions of the local government.
Local Governments are essential, as they look into the matters of our immediate concern like roads, garbage, drainage, parks, play grounds, maintenance of records of Births and Deaths, Urban poverty alleviation, public health, urban planning, property taxes, slum improvement, public conveniences etc. It is thus easy and essential for the common citizen to get involved in his neighbourhood issues through the Local Govt. It is a mistake that we all think that it is the job of the MLA or the MP to take care of the nitty gritties of daily life. Thier’s is to make rules and regulations that will impact our lives in a greater way.
In any city the City Corporation elections take place once in 5 years. The Corporation is headed by the Mayor on the Legislative Side and the Commissioner on the Executive side. The mayor is elected for a term of one year from among the councillors and he along with the council members makes laws and budgets pertaining to the development of the city. The commissioner with the help of his subordinates will execute the plans and policies of the council.
In accordance with the constitution Ward Committees are made up of the elected councillors, knowledgeable citizens on urban issues and members of voluntary and community organisations. These committees are intended to plan, monitor and supervise the functioning of local government.
It is therefore essential that you take part in the local elections- even more than in the national or state elections-as a good and responsible ward councillor will change the state of your area for the better in the next 5 years.
You as the citizen can thus interact with you ward councillor and connect with him for the betterment of your ward and seek to participate in the functioning of the ward committees.
If you do not vote in the municipal elections then you cannot afford to complain about the condition of the city for the next 5 years.