Karnataka - Mysore   

MCC to constitute citizens’ committees

MYSORE: In order to ensure public participation in urban governance, the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has begun the process of constituting citizens’ committees for each polling booth in the city.

Addressing a press conference in Mysore on Thursday, MCC Commissioner P. Manivannan said nine-member citizens’ committees would be constituted for each of the 699 polling booths.

He urged interested citizens to submit applications to the jurisdictional zonal office of MCC from November 1 to 7.

The committees, which would assist the MCC in various aspects of governance, would also participate in the “Community Fund Programme”. Each committee would be eligible for taking up schemes amounting to Rs. 10 lakh under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The leader of each committee would be a member of the zonal-level committee, he said.

“We are providing a platform for citizens to participate in the process of development of their city. The committees have legal backing, as they have been formed under the broad framework outlined by the Government of India,” Mr. Manivannan said.

He said a decision on constituting the citizens’ committees was taken after discussions with the MCC’s Steering Committee comprising eminent persons of Mysore, including MLAs, MLCs, MPs, the Deputy Commissioner and the Police Commissioner. “We have studied the process of the formation of the first Citizens’ Advisory Committee in the country in Hubli-Dharwad and improved upon that,” said Mr. Manivannan. Mr. Manivannan also said that the committees would be more representative that the proposed ward committees.

When his attention was drawn to the opposition from elected councillors to the ward committees, Mr. Manivannan said they had been taken into confidence on the constitution of the citizens’ committees.

“As many as 63 out of the 65 councillors of the MCC have given their approval for the citizens’ committees,” he said.

The councillors would play a significant role in the effective functioning of the committees, he said.

D. Made Gowda, MLC, who is patron-adviser to the MCC’s Steering Committee, said the citizens’ committees could greatly contribute to the development of the city by not only supporting the MCC in solid waste management but also assisting the civic body in planning, execution and monitoring of functions.

M.K. Somashekar, MLA, Deputy Commissioner Channappa Gowda and Mysore city Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, all of whom are members of the MCC’s Steering Committee, were present.

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