The district administration would hold meetings with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) once in three months to get suggestions on better governance and redress grievances of the public. The NGOs hailed this as a right move towards involving the public in administration.
Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim announced this chairing a meeting of representatives of NGOs at his office here on Wednesday. Representatives of several NGOs from different walks of life, including child and women development, senior citizens, transgenders and others attended the meeting providing suggestions and pouring out grievances.
Responding to G. Hanumanth Kamath of Nagarika Vedike, Mr. Ibrahim directed the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) to take immediate steps to form ward committees. Mr. Kamath said absence of committees had prevented participation of the public in local governance.
NGOs representing women and children rued that travel by city buses had been a nightmare for women, children and the elderly. They cannot easily board and alight from buses as footboards are at higher level and urged the administration to get them right. They also highlighted the plight of women passengers due to nuisance created by a few male passengers in overcrowded buses.
Issues pertaining to absence of footpaths in the city also came up.
Many urged the Deputy Commissioner to invite representatives of NGOs to meetings of different departments convened at the district level — Mr. Ibrahim said he would consider the request. He also directed the MCC to regularly hold meetings with NGOs.
Mr. Kamath questioned the rationale of making Mangalore kerosene-free when sufficient LPG cylinders were not available. An official from the Food and Civil Supplies Department said the government would ensure proper supply of cylinders. The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) issued a separate statement saying the kerosene-free project was impractical as thousands of migrants from north Karnataka and north India had no identity documents.
Representatives from about 40 NGOs attended the meeting. K. Ashok Bhat, district convener of Apna Desh told The Hindu that the NGOs would continue to support proactive moves, he said.
