Media Release
Mangaluru, Aug 2: In the backdrop of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) announcing the provisional list of MCC ward committee members, Janaagraha congratulates the citizens of Mangaluru and the civic groups for their active interest in the formation of ward committees.
Now each of the 60 ward committees is part of urban governance that is more meaningful, sustainable and will systematically engage and collaborate with the City Corporation.
Janaagraha believes that decentralized governance with the participation of ward committee members will bring much-needed transparency, accountability and lead to effective management of the city roads, footpaths, solid waste management and other developmental works.
On its part, Janaagraha since October held online webinars, collaborated with Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Civic Groups and conducted multiple awareness drives to encourage citizen participation in ward committees.
It also appreciates the work done by members of civil society organizations in bringing the impending matter on Ward Committees to the attention of the honourable court and getting favorable verdict which led to the subsequent course of action that we witness today.
Srinivas Alavilli, head, Civic Participation at Janaagraha said, “Congratulations to Mangaluru for becoming the second city in Karnataka and one of the very few cities in India to have constituted ward committees! The promise of ward committees is realized only when the citizen members work in a constructive manner with local elected representatives and officials. Ward Committees realize the dream of Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj by enabling citizens to participate in democracy not just to raise complaints but also to plan the development of their own ward, keeping the needs of all sections of society in the ward.”
Janaagraha thanks the Honourable Mayor of Mangaluru City Corporation Premananda Shetty and Deputy Mayor Sumangala Rao, MCC Commissioner Akshy Sridhar, Former Mayor Diwakar Pandeshwar, Former Deputy Mayor Vedavathi and all MCC Corporators for their consensus support to the citizen-centric Ward Committees.
It also acknowledges the support of media and all the individuals and institutional stakeholders for taking progressive steps for the formation of ward committee and meeting the aspirations of all the Mangalureans.
Janaagraha will be honoured to help create formal systems for ward committees’ work, including training for all stakeholders and IT support.
About Janaagraha
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy is a non-profit trust in the Jana Group co-founded by Swati Ramanathan and Ramesh Ramanathan in 2001. Janaagraha's mission is to transform the quality of life in India's cities and towns. It works with citizens to catalyse active citizenship in city neighbourhoods and with governments to institute reforms to city governance (what we call "City-Systems").
Janaagraha has experience of two decades in urban policy and governance and has worked extensively across governments on administrative and legislative reforms to urban governance, including on constitutional amendment to 74th Constitution Amendment Act, on JnNURM, with Second Administrative Reforms Commission, XIII, XIV, and XV Finance Commissions, CAG of India, Planning Commission/NITI Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).