HDMC earns kudos at state meet

Source: HDMC Website

The reforms introduced by Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation during the past two years to achieve transparency and accountability in its administration are making waves across the state. Many of the practices evolved by it are billed to be replicated by other civic bodies in Karnataka.

HDMC commissioner P Manivannan was specially invited by the City Managers Association of Karnataka (CMAK), comprising heads of urban local bodies to give a power point presentation about the reforms to commissioners of all the civic bodies from the state in Bangalore , last Friday.

This is the second time in the past one year that Manivannan has been invited to Bangalore to give a presentation about the practices adopted by him to tone up the municipal administration. Last time, it was about meticulous planning behind the massive demolition drive he undertook in Hubli-Dharwad to remove encroachments from corporation land.

The top brass of the urban developmentt department, including principal secretary Laxmi Venkataraman and secretary Subhash Chandra, commissioners of the Bangalore Maha Palike and Bangalore Development Authority, and MDs of Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board attended the presentation. Manivannan told The Times of India: "Out of a total of 12 best practices adopted by various civic bodies in the state, which have been shortlisted for state-level awards by a technical committee of CMAK, five have been from those evolved by HDMC, followed by two from BMP and one each from BDA, Ulllal, Chitradurga, Hosadurga and Doddaballapur."

He said, "The five best practices evolved by HDMC are decentralisation of administration, round-the-clock emergency response/public grievances redressal (ER/PGR) centre, transparency in expenditure, e-governance initiatives and children's movement for civic awareness."

Under decentralisation, he said the twin-cities have been divided into 12 zones, each headed by an assistant commissioner who have been delegated all the powers of the commissioner under the KMC Act, to discharge day-to-day civic functions like issue of birth/ death certificates and building completion certificates.

But observers believe that transparency in expenditure is perhaps the most radical of the reforms initiated by Manivannan in the face of stiff opposition from vested political interests, which has eliminated the nexus between tainted civic officials and civil contractors enjoying the patronage of local councillors.

All pending bills of development works completed by the 15 th of every month are posted on the HDMC website. They are automatically prioritised by an in-built software for full/part payment on the basis of a set formula evolved at the monthly meeting of a designated committee, thus removing influence pedalling for release of payments.

HDMC officials said that citizens are free to point out any lapses in the quality of civic works, which are monitored by third party experts from the local BVB and SDM Engineering Colleges , before the payment is finally released. All payments are made online, directly into the bank accounts of contractors on the approved list of the civic body.

The 24-hour ER/PGR centre has improved the quality of service by instilling accountability while e-governance initiatives have improved the efficacy of the highly understaffed civic body.The children’s Movement for Civic Awareness is an attempt to prepare and motivate adolescents to become responsible citizens of tomorrow.