Husbands have a field day at local body meetings

Their wives, who are legitimate members of city corporations, maintain silence

December 22, 2014 12:28 am | Updated 01:23 pm IST - Bengaluru

The trend of husbands of women local body members acting as de facto power centres remains strong. At a recent general body meeting of the Ballari City Corporation, all the husbands were seen intervening in discussions on many subjects. Their wives, who are legitimate members entitled to take part in discussions, did not utter a word.

Surprisingly, neither Mayor M. Ramesh nor corporation Commissioner Chikkanna objected to this.

“What can we do? We are fed up. They have been instructed not to speak during discussions, but they continue to do it. It is a major embarrassment,” a senior member told The Hindu .

Another male member was overheard saying that this problem of husbands’ domination in their domain will continue until the women members started asserting their rights. In Bidar Zilla Panchayat last year, the panchayat passed a resolution against an officer for not allowing husbands of women members to participate on their wives’ behalf at meetings and functions.

Speaker is the hero

As per the popularity ratings, the tough-talking Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa seems to have beaten everyone hands down, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah included, in the just-concluded winter session of the legislature in Belagavi.

His aggressive posture and firm, no-nonsense way of handling issues seem to have won him several admirers. This was evident from the reactions of several grassroots-level officials, police personnel, ground staff and visitors, who flocked to the media centre and other rooms to watch live telecasts of the proceedings.

They cheered Mr. Thimmappa’s inimitable style as he conducted the sessions, especially when he pulled up Ministers or put down members who intervened in discussions without his permission.

A few government employees were even seen imitating the Speaker. One official quipped, “We had, so far, seen people reciting popular film dialogues.”

Clash of ranks?

Tier-2 cities, which got Police Commissionerates in recent years, appear to have created a clash of ranks, at least in the matter of administrative protocol.

The Police Commissioners rarely attend coordination meetings convened by Deputy Commissioners on issues such as road safety or holding mega events. While the Commissionerates are headed by IPS officers of the rank of Inspector-General of Police, the civic administrations are headed by IAS officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioner. Predominantly, the Deputy Commissioners call the shots in a majority of the administrative issues concerning the city and the district, a fact which seems to embarrass Police Commissioners.

Dakshina Kannada is no exception .

The Police Commissioner has not been seen in most of the meetings called by the Deputy Commissioner, such as that of the Regional Transport Authority about issuing bus permits or the road safety committee, all of which warrant the presence of the city police chief.

There are technical glitches too. Many government orders constituting district-level committees do not include the Commissioner as a member; and the Police Commissioners feel their participation in such meetings might lead to legal tangles if any decisions are questioned in court.

And so, they play safe by attending meetings chaired by the Deputy Commissioner only when it is absolutely essential.

Tigers of Belagavi

Arvind Chandrakanth Patil, Khanapur’s Independent MLA, has lambasted the government for releasing a captured tiger into the Khanapur forests.

The northern Khanapur forests fall in his constituency, while the tiger was captured in the southern Chikkamagaluru recently, after it killed a woman from a nearby village.

Why should the tiger be shifted to the distant Khanapur forest instead of the forests nearby, an irked Mr. Patil asked in the just concluded Assembly session.

A few other members too said in a lighter vein that the Forest Department may have believed that the people of Belagavi, known for their valour, could defend themselves very well against any kind of threat, tiger or otherwise. They went further and invoked Belagavi’s brave legends — Kittur’s warrior queen Rani Chennamma and her lieutenant Sangolli Rayanna — who had taken on the British almost 200 years ago.

Mr. Patil expressed his reservations over the tiger’s presence, while also opposing the inclusion of 60-odd villages in the eco-sensitive area as suggested by the Kasturirangan Committee report.

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