First-time GWMC Corporators need time & orientation

Warangal: Do our Corporators need work orientation? It appears so. With more than three-fourths of the Corporators in the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) were new to their job, majority of them were yet to get down to their act. As a result, the issues faced by the denizens in almost all the Divisions remained untouched. It may be mentioned here that 52 of the total 66 Corporators are first-timers.

It's been one-and-a-half-month since the new council was elected for the GWMC, however, the newly elected Corporators, it seems, are clueless about their job. With there was a sudden spurt in coronavirus cases and lockdown, the authorities are yet to call for the first Council meeting that would have given the first-time Corporators an outlook. The Hans India spoke to a cross-section of people – varying from subject experts to common man – and found the missing link in the system. The two-time former Corporator Md. Abu Bakar has vast experience and was invited to a two-day conference on the National Consultation on Urban Governance organised by the Praja Foundation.

"A city like Warangal needs a city planning committee with subject experts, politicians, engineers who have technical knowhow about the civic issues and things done by the urban local body (ULB) such as water supply, sanitation, drainage etc.," he said.

He makes a point that instead of assigning these matters to consultant agencies, it's better to take the services of the local expertise. "Think Globally, Act Locally is the need of the hour. Someone coming from outside can't determine the local problems well," Abu Baker said. Forum for Better Warangal president Pulluru Sudhakar, a city planning expert, says, "The Corporators need an orientation about their work and how the things move in the system. As the majority of Corporators are first-timers, there is an urgent need to create an outlook on new municipal act, development models, master plan, schemes, the flow of funds, prioritising people's issues, socioeconomic matters etc. among them."

Citizen's participation is a key element, but the authorities and the elected representatives rarely respect that, he added. Further, Sudhakar offered the ULB to provide orientation about the municipal laws and functioning to the Corporators. On the other hand, denizens in the GWMC have their set of problems since the onset of the southwest monsoon. Kumar Gurrapa, a private employee, says, "Even a moderate rain is turning the city into a cesspool. The mid-August torrential rain last year left a handful of worries to the people; let us hope the civic body addresses those issues.