Wards, lowest node of Indian Political hierarchy

    To be frank thought of this topic as election for nagarsevaks or corporators are near around. And like all elections in India, people interested in politics have already started soft campaigns. Soft because their names are not yet announced as candidates for these election. Once names of candidates to fight for post is declared then real drum beating would start. 

    Before we deep dive in this topics lets understand where wards is positioned in Indian politics

        As you can see above diagram with flow of command where Government of India is at top and wards is the lower most node. We can say wards are working at real grass root level. And are closer to people and their ground realities. It won't be exaggeration if I say collective idea of all ward representatives is idea of whole country. So they have immense responsibilities. 

    Person elected as representative of ward is call corporators. They are referred by different local names depending on region. Below are few listed responsibilities corporator has to handle

List IV—Local Government List

(Article 243W)

1. Urban planning including town planning.

2. Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings.

3. Planning for economic and social development.

4. Roads and bridges.

5. Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.

6. Public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management.

7. Fire services.

8. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects.

9. Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the handicapped and mentally retarded.

10. Slum improvement and upgradation.

11. Urban poverty alleviation.

12. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, playgrounds.

13. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects.

14. Burials and burial grounds; cremations, cremation grounds; and electric crematoriums.

15. Cattle pounds; prevention of cruelty to animals.

16. Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths.

17. Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences.

18. Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.

Added by the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992, s. 4 (w.e.f. 1-6-1993).

    For work like sanity, infrastructure maintenance, water, maintaining record  etc. corporators are supported by cities Municipal Corporations.  Here main task is to highlight areas where there are issues and get it resolved. In other terms corporator is communication channel between local people and municipal bodies. They can be approached directly as well but since corporator is authoritative figure it become bit easy to get work done. 

    But it can't be all day task. Not are these the only issues people face. What else can Corporator work on ? What else can they do to make their ward better place to live in YOY ( Year On Year ) ?

Will be pondering on more responsibilities of corporator in my next article. 

Till then Good BYE !!