ABIDe's Govern Bengaluru plan

ABIDe's Govern Bengaluru plan
Bangalore, DH News Service:

In its ambitious plan of “Govern Bengaluru,” the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) task force has recommended a series of direct elections from the newly proposed “Neighbourhood Areas” to the post of the Mayor of Bangalore.

Here is a comprehensive look at the draft Bengaluru Region Governance Bill 2009 prepared by the Task Force. Among the recommendations are, election of councillors to each ward, with the tenure of each representative extending for five years.

Ward Committees

The draft statutory paper prepared by ABIDe states that there shall be a ward committee constituted within 45 days of the constitution of the new corporation with revised statutory laws. According to the task force, each ward committee will constitute the councillor of the corporation representing the ward as the chairman with a select number of people nominated by the corporation in consultation with the councillor representing the ward in question.

It has further laid down a rule that “not less than two-third of the members of such committee shall be the Neighbourhood Area Committee Representatives resident in the ward.” ABIDe has proposed the constitution of a new “Neighbourhood Area” (NA) under the Wards of Bangalore. There will be a NA Committee set up for each of these NAs.

The task force has however laid a rule that no person standing for the post of the convener can contest for the post of the councillor or the Mayor and vice-versa. The term of office has been slated for five years.Framing the eligibility criteria for the positions of a convener to the post of the Mayor, ABIDe has tried to ensure that the elected representatives will be responsible directly to the people. The structure of representatives is shaped in a pyramid format, with the NAs being immediate body responsible to the citizens of Bangalore.