CIVIC hosted a “National Consultation on Transparency and Accountability in the Paradigm of Urban Governance” on 18th February, at BMS College of Law. Nikhil Dey of MKSS and Rakshita Swamy of Social Accountability Resource Unit (SARU) were present to facilitate the dialogue. The following organizations were the co-organizers of the event: B.PAC, CFAR, Centre for Inclusive Development, Citizens’ Agenda For Bangalore, Citizens’ for Bengaluru (CfB), Civil Society Forum, KRIA-KATTE, Nagarik Shakthi, & Sensing Local Foundation.
Primers/Draft Toolkits on Area Sabhas, Ward Committees, Ward Planning and Proactive Disclosure of 12 Municipal Corporations were presented, seeking inputs from the forum.
Mr. Sunil of the Centre for Smart Governance came on behalf of Mr. Rajeev Chawla, ACS of E-Governance, and presented the initiatives of the Centre for E-Governance on RTI, Sakala, Mahiti Khanaja and the Grievance Redressal Systems being developed by them.
Dr. Satyanarayana and Mr. Raghu Parthasarathy of NLSIU presented their draft Municipalities Bill which amalgamates the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act and the Karnataka Municipalities Act. Spirited discussions took place and a way forward was chalked out in the last session, under the chairmanship of Nikhil Dey.