Development for the people, by the people in Delhi

Two municipal councillors in the national capital have decided to put "power back into the public's hands" by choosing to hear them out before undertaking any development work in their areas.

Hari Shankar Kashyap and Annapurna Mishra, municipal councillors of Trilok Puri and Sonia Vihar wards, respectively, have tied up with Swaraj Campaign - a programme initiated by a group of NGOs under which the councillor meets people via open public meetings called "mohalla sabhas" and carries out development work as per their needs.

Residents complain and he listens patiently because Hari Shankar Kashyap, municipal councillor from a poorly developed area in east Delhi, feel that those who voted him to power can ask him anything.

"After all the public voted me to power. They should be allowed to see change as per what they dictate and prioritise. I want to put power back into the public's hands," Kashyap told IANS.

After holding two meetings with his constituents in the last two weeks, the recent one being a gathering in Pocket-III of Mayur Vihar, Kashyap has decided to divide his Rs.5 million ward development fund into eight parts.

“People know that they can use this fund for development work. Payment for any of the infrastructure projects that are going on will not be cleared unless they meet the residents' satifaction. Projects will be decided as per priority,” said Kashyap.

Residents are informed about the meetings in advance so that they can be prepared.

Mishra also held one such meeting in Badarpur Khadar village. Around 100 residents spelt out their demands to her in the presence of other Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials.

Residents complained that the village of 1,500 had no electricity, no school, no ration shop, no medical facilities, no tarred roads, and no flush toilets.

“This village has never had any school. Most children don’t go to school. A few of them go to schools in Loni or Mirpur in Uttar Pradesh. So a school should be our first priority,” villager Mahabir Singh told Mishra.

After listening to the complaints, Mishra told the gathering: “From today, you will directly dictate the development of your village. I’ll try my best to carry out your will. You have voted me into power.”

Mishra agreed that a school, ration cards for every household, identity cards for every adult, widow and old age pension for eight women, and a tarred road would be commissioned soon using Rs.5 million from her ward development fund.

Mishra has decided to take up the issue of setting up a school with the MCD.

Both councillors felt that others should also follow in their footsteps and get back to the people.

“I don't know if other councillors will conduct such meetings. They will if they start believing in the welfare of the people who choose them,” said Kashyap.

“A few MCD councillors and officials have already started complaining against this model of grassroots democracy because they won’t be able to make money in an environment of transparency,” said Mishra.

One of the campaign's core initiators is Magsaysay award winner and Right to Information (RTI) activist Arvind Kejriwal.

“This mohalla sabha is not a one-off affair. These meetings will now happen regularly. For now, it has materialised only in two wards - about a dozen more MCD councillors have given a positive response to this and will soon start conducting these meetings,” Kejriwal told IANS.

“It is interesting to see that people's needs and demands are so limited. Various governments and the municipality spend crores of rupees but people are still dissatisfied because the money is not spent on what people want.” he added.

Another activist associated with the campaign said: “More and more councillors are realising that this will keep them in touch with their constituents and later it could translate into votes for them.”

Last updated on Jul 15^th, 2009 at 16:17 pm IST--IANS