Addl Inputs: Making the Ward Councillor effective

Below are the key issues and solutions to make the role of Ward Councillor more effective in urban India. Kindly review and if you have any additional inputs, please share.

We look forward to your inputs and will finalize the whitepaper shortly for submission to our Urban Development leadership who can then take it up with States and Cities.

Swachh Bharat Mission

Solutions to make the role of Ward Councillor effective

1. Ward Councillors should function as a link between the people and the local government.
2. Ward Councillors should gather expertise from experienced and experts from the society and share them for the benefit of the people and ward
3. The councillor should announce monthly, quarterly and yearly goals towards increasing cleanliness in his ward
4. The fund allocation to the ward councillor should be done quarterly based on the project details submitted by his
5. Their working and project execution under councillor should be made transparent by making information available via a website
6. Ward Councillor should maintain a simple webpage which provides glimpses into his/her present undertakings
7. It should be a requirement for every ward councillor to connect with community they serve via a circle or group
8. The councillor should do public meetings every week to understand the cleanliness issues for the public and also to generate new ideas
9. The details of the expenses incurred in cleanliness activities should be available on the website/in the councillor office
10. The role and responsibilities of a ward councillor should be displayed in their office so that people are clear about what to expect from them
11. Working of the ward councillors should be closely monitored by the office of the governor
12. Timelines towards the execution of the projects should be defined and strictly adhered to.

Issues with the current role of Ward Councillor

1. Once a councillor gets elected, he forgets all the promises he had made
2. Councillors lack a roadmap of the cleanliness activities planned in the area
3. They have a very opaque way of working
4. The implementation of new cleanliness initiatives is very slow
5. Interaction with public to generate new ideas and increase coordination is mostly missing
6. A major part of the cleanliness funds are lost to corrupt practices
7. People are not fully aware of the responsibilities of a ward councillor
8. Many ward councillors shrug off maintenance work and only take on new work
9. Their reachability for residents in case of need is a big issue
10. Ward councillors treat their job as a base to go higher with their political ambitions and not look at it as a public service role. more