There are 227 elected corporators but only 24 administrative Wards in Mumbai. Each of these Wards comprises of a population of approximately 8 -11 lakh people. Any office, even if operating at the highest levels of efficiency, cannot cope up with the day-to-day needs of even 1/10th of this population. Now one begins to understand why we receive the kind of service that the BMC provides.
The residents of Ward 107 voted for young Miss
Jayshree Shiral in the corporator elections, hoping to find some relief from issues like illegal encroachments, garbage problems and the most recent malaria crisis they were facing due to mosquito breeding. The optimistic Miss Surekha took up her work very seriously, but as days passed by she realized that she did not have the authority to interfere in executive matters concerning her Ward. In fact her constituency fell under an administrative Ward created by the BMC called “K- West” where 12 other corporators of surrounding areas would come with complaints. They would have to bow and scrape before the lowest-rung officer to persuade him into performing tasks such as clearing garbage on time.
On the other hand, Miss Surekha’s voters were angry with her and kept complaining about the piling garbage and mosquitoes. Fed up with all this, the powerless corporator decided to ignore the complaints. Life in 107 continued to degenerate.
The rest of Mumbai is in the same predicament. Our 227 elected representatives presently have no executive powers. Devolution of power, more citizen participation and a cleaner, better-staffed administration can be the only answer.
VOTEMUMBAI suggests the formation of 227 Ward committees headed by the corporators. Each Ward committee will cater to a population of nearly 66000 people. Its composition will be as follows: |
