{ முகநூல் கருத்துக்கள்}{ட்விட்டர் கருத்துக்கள்}

The recent election to the Kayalpatnam Municipality (October 2006) was hotly contested and keenly watched. Over 100 candidates fought for 18 seats. When the results came, most of those seats went to the independents (that is, independents technically, in many cases). It took a lot of wheeling and dealing before the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Municipality were eventually chosen.

Days running to this election and events after it exposed how ill-equipped Kayalpatnam is - in facing up to its civic responsibilities. More than the election to the state assembly, the local body elections hold a lot of importance to the day-to-day life of people of Kayalpatnam. Be it water supply, collection of garbages or the roads, it is the municipal body that is directly involved. Yet the methodical evaluation that was needed in putting up and electing candidates who are worthy of handling the tasks was mostly absent. We are a town of 30,000+ people and is it so difficult to find 18 good men and women?

End result? A lot of candidates who were there merely to divide votes and make quick money. One hopes - when the election comes next time around, Kayalpatnam would have learnt its lessons and would be more demanding of its prospective candidates - in terms of capability, honesty and also their independence.

Now that we have a new municipal body with its chairmen and councillors, it is also the time to think how best we can make this work to the best advantage of Kayalpatnam. To begin with, public must be made aware what exactly are the duties of the municipality body (and thus what to expect of the municipal body). The civic duties of the municipal body includes ensuring regular water supply, good roads, garbage collection and prevention of outbreak of diseases.

The law says the tanks that hold the drinking water supplied by the municipal body must be cleaned periodically (once in three months)? Is there any civic organisation in Kayalpatnam doing the verification whether that is being done? Imagine - the diseases that could flow out of this negligence on our part.

Take the roads. Miles of road are laid in Kayalpatnam - which do not stand the pressure of a steady, heavy rain of a few days. Is there any civic organisation in Kayalpatnam that looks into the books of the Municipality (as allowed by the Right to Information Act, 2005) - to check who were given the contracts, on what basis, on what condition? None - that we can think of.

Or take the outbreak of diseases. Recent outbreak of Chikungunya (the mosquito-borne disease) has affected hundreds of people in Kayalpatnam - the young and the old. Had the Municipality done its job, the outbreak wouldn't have happened at all in the first place. It isn't hard to see in Kayalpatnam - pools of water and dumps of uncollected garbage - breeding those mosquitoes. Is there any civic body in Kayalpatnam that looks into the strength of the civic staff working to collect garbages? Do we really care to verify whether those mosquito-fighting sprays that the Municipality uses really work?

We pay our water taxes, property taxes (the bulk of the municipality's revenue) and care not to see how our hard earned money is spent by the Municipality. We hardly take the effort to look into Municipality's annual budget - let alone debate it. The budget is prepared every January, approved by February. We do not care to verify whether government projects exist only on paper or are they actually implemented.

People of Kayalpatnam and every social organisation working in the town must wake up to their civic duties. It is - after all - their life, their money, their future and the future of their children. People must collectively engage with the municipal authorities and work out a plan - for the immediate and long-term future. We must have a long-term vision for civic amenities in Kayalpatnam. The active interest of the people and the organisations would also go a long way in delivering good services (which all of us deserve). Along the way, would also ensure a corruption-less municipal body.