Residents seek budget answers

bangalore: participative budgeting saw yet another achievement when resident representatives from seven wards interacted with bcc''s standing committee of taxation and finance chairman narendra babu on friday. the objective was to understand the bcc budget from the common man''s perspective and tighten the first-level link between citizens and corporators.the residents represented all the three types of wards __ new, partially new and old. ``only when communities take interest will things change. it might take time but change is inevitable,'''' narendra babu said. during the course of the session, residents were curious to know how more about some budget proposals like the rs 3 crore for road and footpath maintenance and rs 15 crore for model area development, and how they would improve revenue collection in their respective wards. ``each ward will be given rs 15 lakh as model area fund so that areas will be able to sport good roads, footpaths, drains, lighting and tilting type dustbins,'''' babu added. the message of the interactive session was clear. transparency in bcc ward works is not only needed but demanded by residents. in the process, they too will get a glimpse into the kind of obstacles every corporator faces. for the people, things are now looking optimistic. janaagraha response: janaagraha, a community campaign for participative budgeting, which was launched in december last year, has reached its final stage and evoked a good response from citizens. residents from over 45 wards have participated in the campaign and identified works to the tune of rs 145 crore. community events have evoked good response from the elected representatives. janaagraha''s campaign co-ordinator ramesh ramanathan on friday maintained that communities in six wards have already achieved success in their campaign.