urban administration - prashanth...

Chapter 7

UrbanAdministration

ne lazy Sunday afternoon Malaand her friends Shankar, Jehangir

and Rehana were playing a game ofcricket in the street.

Shankar had bowled a good overand although he nearly managed to getRehana out, she was still playing.Frustrated, he bowled a short ball andhoped she would hit it for an easy catch.Instead, Rehana hit the ball so hard andso high that the street light broke.Rehana screamed, "Oh no, look whatI've done!" Shankar said, "Yes! we forgotto make a rule that if you break thestreet light you are automatically out."

But Mala, Jehangir and Rehana weremore worried about what had happenedand they told Shankar he'd better stopthinking about the wicket.

Last week they had broken NirmalaMausi's window and had spent theirpocket money to have it replaced. Wouldthey have to dish out money again fromtheir pockets? But who would they paythis to? To whom did the lights on thestreets belong? Who changed them?

Rehana's house was the closest andthey ran and told her mother what hadhappened. Rehana's mother said, "Idon't really know these things in great

A city is much bigger than a village and more spreadout. A city has crowded markets, many buses andcars, water and electricity facilities, traffic controland hospitals. Have you ever wondered who isresponsible for running all this? Do you know howdecisions are made? How the planning is done?Who are the people who do all the work? Read thischapter and find some answers.

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detail but I do know that it is theMunicipal Corporation of the city thattakes care of replacing lights. The bestperson to ask would be Yasmin Khala.She just retired from the MunicipalCorporation. Go and ask her, andRehana come back home soon."

Yasmin Khala lived in the same laneand she and Rehana's mother weregood friends. The children ran toKhala's house and when she openedthe door they began to tell her whathad happened all at once! When theyasked about the street light, YasminKhala laughed and said, "There is noone person that you can pay the moneyto. There is a big organisation calledthe Municipal Corporation that takescare of street lights, garbage collection,water supply, keeping the streets andthe market clean."

"I've heard about the MunicipalCorporation. They've put up signsaround the city to inform people aboutmalaria," said Mala.

"Yes, you are quite right. TheMunicipal Corporation is alsoresponsible for ensuring that diseasesdo not break out in the city. It also runsschools, hospitals and dispensaries.And makes gardens and maintainsthem," said Yasmin Khala. Then sheadded, "Our city Pune is a big city and

so here it is called a MunicipalCorporation. In smaller towns it iscalled a Municipal Council."

The Ward Councillor andAdministrative Staff

"Yasmin Khala, I'm curious. Whodecides where a park should go? Didyou have to make interesting decisionslike this when you worked in theMunicipal Corporation?" askedRehana.

"No Rehana, I was working in theaccounts office of the Corporation so Ijust worked on pay slips. Cities areusually quite large so the MunicipalCorporation has to make a lot ofdecisions as well as do a lot of work tokeep the city clean. The decisions likewhere a park or a new hospital shouldgo are usually made by the WardCouncillors."

List at least four different tasksthat the Municipality does:1.

2.

3.

4.

58 / Social and Political Life

The city is divided into differentwards and ward councillors getelected. The complicated decisions thataffect the entire city are taken bygroups of councillors who form commi-ttees to decide and debate issues. Forexample, if bus stands need to beimproved, or a crowded market-placeneeds to have its garbage cleared moreregularly, or there is a 'nala' or drainthat cuts through the city that needscleaning etc. It is these committees forwater, garbage collection, street lightingetc. that decide on the work to be done.

When the problems are within award then the people who live in theward can contact their councillors. Forexample, if there are dangerouselectrical wires hanging down then thelocal Councillor can help them get intouch with the electricity authority.

While the Councillor's Committeesand the councillors decide on issues,the Commissioner and the adminis-trative staff implement these. TheCommissioner and the administrativestaff are appointed. Councillors areelected.

"So how are these decisions made?"said Rehana who never gave up on hertrain of thought.

"Well, all of the Ward Councillorsmeet and they make a budget and themoney is spent according to this. TheWard Councillors try and ensure thatthe particular demands of their wardare placed before the entire council.These decisions are then implementedby the administrative staff," saidYasmin Khala, enjoying the questions

Fill in the blanks in the sentencesbelow:

1. In a panchayat the elected membersare called ___________.

2. The city is divided into several___________.

3. In a municipal corporation the electedmembers are called ___________.

4. Groups of councillors deal withissues that affect the ___________ .

5. Elections are held once every_________ years for the panchayat aswell as for the municipality

6. While the councillors makedecisions the administrative staff led by the Commissioner______________ these.

How does the MunicipalCorporation get its money?Providing and running so manyservices requires a lot of money. TheMunicipal Corporation collects this indifferent ways. A tax is a sum ofmoney that people pay to thegovernment for the services thegovernment provides. People whoown homes have to pay a property taxas well as taxes for water and otherservices. The larger the house themore the tax. Property taxes howeverform only 25-30 per cent of the moneythat a Municipal Corporation earns.

There are also taxes for education andother amenities. If you own a hotel orshop then you have to pay a tax forthis as well. Also the next time you goto see a movie look carefully at yourticket because you pay a tax for this aswell. Thus while rich people accountfor property taxes, a much widerpopulation pays more general taxes.

Urban Administration / 59

that the children asked.No adults asked herabout her job and thechildren's questionsprovided her anopportunity to relive someof her experiences.

"But the city is solarge. It must take a lot ofpeople to look after it.Does the MunicipalCorporation have a lot ofworkers?" asked Shekharcuriously. He had by nowluckily forgotten about thecricket match and hisincomplete over.

"Yes, the work in thecity is divided intodifferent departments. Sothere is the waterdepartment, the garbage collectiondepartment, a department to look aftergardens, another to look after roads. Iworked on accounts in the sanitationdepartment," said Yasmin Khala andthen went on to offer the children somekababs to eat.

Jehangir ate his kababs at topspeed and as he wolfed them down heasked loudly from the kitchen, "YasminKhala where does the garbage that theMunicipal Corporation collects go to?".The others were still eating whenYasmin Khala began to answer, "Thisquestion has an interesting answer. Asyou know you can usually find garbagelying all over the street. Earlier evenour neighbourhood used to havegarbage lying all over, and if this

remains uncollected it attracts dogs,rats and flies. Also, people get ill fromthe smell. At one point things becameso bad that children even stoppedplaying cricket in the street becausetheir parents were afraid that they'dget sick from staying on the streets toolong."

A Community Protest

Yasmin Khala continued, "The womenwere very unhappy about the situationand even came to me for advice. I saidI could try and speak with some officerin the department but I wasn't surehow long it would take. Then it wasGangabai who said that it is the WardCouncillor who we should go to andprotest since we are the ones who


Recycling is not a new thing. People like the man in the photoabove have been recycling paper, metal, glass and plastic for along time. The kabadi wallah plays a major role in recyclinghousehold plastic and paper, including your note books.

elected him. She gathered a smallgroup of women and went to his house.They began shouting slogans in front ofhis house and he came out and askedthem what was wrong.

Gangabai described the situation inthe locality to him. He promised to gowith them the next day to meet theCommissioner. He asked Gangabai toget a petition signed by all of the adultsin the locality saying that garbage wasnot being collected. He suggested thattaking the local sanitation engineerwith them the next day might be a goodidea. The sanitation engineer could alsospeak with the Commissioner and tellhim how bad the situation was. Thatevening children ran from house to

house making sure that as manyfamilies as possible signed the petition.

The next morning a large group ofwomen and the Ward Councillor andthe sanitation engineer went to theMunicipal Corporation office. TheCommissioner met with this large groupand began giving excuses saying thatthe Corporation did not have enoughtrucks. But Gangabai smartly replied,"But you seem to have enough trucks tocollect garbage from the rich localities".

"That must have left him lost forwords," quipped Jehangir.

"Yes, he said that he would takecare of it immediately and Gangabaithreatened that if it was not done intwo days a larger group of womenwould protest in front of theCorporation," said Yasmin Khala. "Sodid the streets get cleaned?" askedRehana who never let things remainunfinished.

"Well not within two days and thenafter another larger and more noisyprotest the sanitation service in thislocality became more regular."

"Wow this sounds just like aBollywood film with a happy ending,"


What has changed since Khalaretired?

What Yasmin Khala did notmention to the children was that inrecent times, in order to save moneythe Commissioners of severalmunicipalities across the countryhad hired private contractors tocollect and process garbage. This iscalled Sub-Contracting. This meansthat the work that was earlier beingdone by government workers is nowbeing done by a private company.

These contract workers get paid lessand their jobs are temporary.Collecting garbage is also quite adangerous job and often thesecontract workers do not have anyaccess to safety measures and arenot taken care of if they are injuredwhile working.

What was Gangabai protestingabout?Why do you think Gangabaidecided to approach the WardCouncillor? What did Gangabai say whenthe Commissioner said thatthere were not enough trucks inthe city?

The city of Surat had a plague scare in 1994. Surat was one ofthe dirtiest cities in India. Houses hotels and restaurants woulddump their garbage into the nearest drain or street which madeit very difficult for sweepers to collect and transfer the garbageinto selected dumps. In addition to this the Municipal Councildid not collect the garbage as often as it should have and thisled to the situation getting worse. Plague spreads through theair and people who have the disease have to be isolated. InSurat, several people lost their lives, and over 300,000 desertedthe town. The scare of the plague ensured that the municipalcouncil completely cleaned up the city. To this date Suratcontinues to remain the second cleanest city in India afterChandigarh.

Do you know when and how often garbage gets collected in yourneighbourhood? Do you think it is the same for allneighbourhoods of the city? Why not? Discuss.


said Mala who already beganimagining herself in the lead role ofGangabai.

The children enjoyed hearingGangabai's story immensely. Theyhad sensed that Gangabai was muchloved and respected and now theyunderstood why. They got up andthanked Khala for answering theirquestions and then, before they left,Rehana said, "Oh I have one lastquestion Khala. The two dustbins thatwe have at home now, are they alsoGangabai's idea?"

Khala began laughing. "No, notreally. The Municipal Corporation wasthe one who suggested that we do thisto help keep our streets clean. When wesort our own garbage it reduces theirwork."

The children thanked Khalaand walked back down the streettogether. It had become quite lateand they needed to get back home.For some reason the street seemeddarker than usual. They lookedup and then looked at each othersmiling and ran right back toKhala's house…


Photo 1

QUESTIONS

1. Why did the children go to Yasmin Khala's house?

2. List four ways in which the work of the Municipal Corporationaffects the life of a city-dweller.

3. Who is a Municipal Councillor?

4. What did Gangabai do and why?

5. How does the Municipal Corporation earn the money to do itswork?


6. Discuss:

In the two photographs you see different ways of collecting anddisposing garbage.

i) Which way do you think provides safety to the person disposinggarbage?

ii) What are the dangers of collecting garbage in the manner shown inthe first photograph?

iii) Why do you think that proper ways of disposing garbage are notavailable to those who work in municipalities?

Photo 2

7. Several poor people in the city work as domestic servants as well aswork for the Corporation, keeping the city clean. Yet the slums inwhich they live are quite filthy. This is because these slums seldomhave any water and sanitation facilities. The reason often given bythe Municipal Corporation is that the land in which the poor haveset up their homes does not belong to them and that slum-dwellersdo not pay taxes. However people living in middle classneighbourhoods pay very little in taxes compared to the amount ofmoney the corporation spends on them in setting up parks, streetlighting facilities, regular garbage collection etc. Also as you read inthis chapter, the property taxes collected by the Municipality makesup only 25-30 per cent of its money. Why do you think it isimportant that the Corporation should spend more money on slumlocalities? Why is it important that the Municipal Corporationprovide the poor in the city with the same facilities that the rich get?

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