By Hari Raj Singh & Vijay Raj Singh
The most practical on ground political and developmental functionary in an urban area is a Parshad (Councillor) and Mayor and in the rural/agrarian/village areas are the Panch and Sarpanch. Thus, the Civil Society living in an urban area needs to be politically, socially as well as from development angle appropriately aware to identify and rally around individuals who have got a credible footprint in terms of delivering public good and taking the entire society together towards harmonious development in their local area.
But, with the kind of societal situation we come across on the ground, in current times, if not a daunting task, still it’s somewhat difficult to come across such personalities who are away from all forms of alignments, be it political, religious, cultural, geographical, ethnicity and caste! So, the best case is to look for “somewhat better ones amongst the good”! As gone are the days, when we could come across personalities with the attribute of equanimity (samdrishta and sambhaav) in the process of serving the microcosm of society.
Now! As the local body elections are only a couple of days away in Doon, what are we looking for is to elect such candidates who possess the highest level of personal and social integrity in 100 odd wards of Dehradun. There are certain issues and pointers which cut across all sections of society and wards. Some of the ideas as per a conscious citizen’s observation, are as follows:
Electing the better ones: Hopefully! The selection and candidature of the nominee/s is more community-centric than political party centric. As the geographical area of the wards is small, so the common citizenry is well aware and thus, they should exercise their choice of vouching for the good ones, thereby electing them to the local body ranks.
Citizens’ Advisory Council (CitiAdviC) to assist the Nagar Nigam and Wards: Both, at the Ward level and the City level, a Council of Citizens, including retired or serving professionals and enthusiasts, with a selfless community development attitude should come forward or be identified to assist and participate in the participatory planning, execution and monitoring activities related to development of the city and the wards. This will go a long way in fostering a collective ownership and responsibility of the Parshad and the Civil Society of the wards.
Annual Ward Development Plan: In the current scenario, residents of any ward practically don’t know about developmental works to be carried out in their locality, least to talk of any participatory planning exercise. So, it should be mandatorily worked out in consultation with all the stakeholders and be made public on Nagar Nigam portal at the start of each financial year.
Some of the planning and monitorable generic issues are: roads, free left turn on crossings, vehicular parking, pedestrian pathways, cycle tracks, sewerage, electricity/ water supply, general cleaning, garbage disposal, greenery and recharge zones, parks and walkways, policing (more importantly, social policing), organised and disciplined market places/ schools/ healthcare/ the lesser privileged & EWS pockets.
Ward level Children’s Sport Facilities App: India and the state are always short of quality sports performers at all levels. On the contrary, the civic authorities never realise their duty to create on field and indoor games facilities at ward or cluster level. An app indicating such facilities at the ward level will help create awareness and this should be circulated among schools. This will also throw up the challenge for the planners to create and design such places across the town.
Monthly Ward walkathons: Taking up a last Sunday morning ward walkathon with the participation of citizens, civic authorities and Parshad, to have a real time appraisal and on-site forward planning suggestions to create a cohesive development thought for the ward.
Inter-ward Performance Competition: Just like all India Swachhata rankings every year, the Nagar Nigam of Dehradun can design an INTER-WARD competition taking up some factors like: roadside cleanliness; drains and drainage system cleanliness; upkeep and management of greenery and parks; garbage segregation and disposal efficiency and more!
Last but not the least, focusing on the future generation. Our city of Dehradun is famous for its network of schools. These schools are the centres of ameliorative change we all want to see in the future. So, the various civic authorities, civil society and social organisations should periodically interact with the school children to share the richness of the city, its past on one part, and the upcoming challenges on the other, so that the young minds and bubbly personalities become the agents for refreshing change for the city’s landscapes of the future!
(Hari Raj Singh is a development consultant with experience of development research and science and society interface. Vijay Raj Singh is a young professional who has trained at KU, Leuven, Belgium, working on the issues of water resources and climate change.)
