Spaces for Citizen Voices

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Noida’s twin towers came crashing down after years of persistent legal battles: a testament to how collective citizen efforts can challenge unlawful construction. While cities like Coimbatore proactively form ward committees and area sabhas, others like Mangalore still need a push from residents. As urban local bodies navigate public participation, can these invited spaces truly bridge the gap between local governance and community voices?

Mangaluru city prepared list of ward committee members | Source: Times of India

On 28 August 2022, India witnessed the biggest demolition since independence when Noida’s 32-storey twin towers came crashing down. What led to the demolition was nearly a decade-long relentless pursuit of justice by a group of senior citizens who took the legal route to raise their concerns. This is a perfect example of how citizens can create their own space to participate in the decision-making.

Over the years, various efforts have been made to enable citizen participation in urban governance. Decentralisation of power through the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act was an important step to enable public participation. The Act not only made municipal governments a formal part of the three-tier governing system but also mandated the establishment of ward committees for cities as an invited space for citizen engagement.

These committees were designed to take the concerns of people at the ward level to the councillors and function as formal spaces for people to debate the needs of the area. Another legislation that further regularised and advocated public participation at area level was the Community Participation Law under JNNURM. It involved the constitution of area sabhas enabling further decentralisation below ward committees to foster citizen participation in decision-making.

BBMP Ward Committee in Bengaluru | Source: Think Bangalore

However, the setting up of ward committees and area sabhas has remained limited to only a few states. It is only now that cities are working towards establishing ward committees and area sabhas in their urban local bodies.

Recently, Coimbatore Corporation has passed a resolution to constitute ward committees and area sabhas in all the 100 wards. The civic body is planning to demarcate the limits of each area sabha in the coming 10-15 days.

Does your city have ward committees and area sabhas?

• Yes
• No

While on one hand, Coimbatore’s civic body realised the need for setting up these invited spaces on its own, Mangalore City Corporation, on the other hand, had to be pushed by the citizens to create these invited spaces for citizen engagement.

To know more about Mangalore’s efforts, watch. You can also listen to the Talk in the Town conversation with Nigel Albuquerque.