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Lok Satta Party and Left parties have come together as One Hyderabad alliance to give a credible alternative to people in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections on the strength of common agenda to empower local communities, said Lok Satta founder-president Jayaprakash Narayan.

Speaking at the Meet-the-Media programme organised by the Telangana Working Journalists’ Federation (TWJF) at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram here on Friday, he said it was evident that traditional parties had reduced local body elections to a mockery with no substantive powers to elected representatives.

The alliance would was fighting the election with a definite and common agenda to empower the communities- at basthi, colony, residential association level, by transferring per capita grant of Rs.1,000 so that people themselves would decide the basic amenities that were required in their area and get them. With access to money and power to execute simple things, life would improve for citizens, Dr.Narayan said.

The GHMC had a budget of over Rs.5,600 crore and by transfer of per capita grant to division/ward level, it would not even amount to one-sixth of the budget but 70 to 80 per cent of basic things that constituted majority of grievances could be addressed effectively, he said.

Cities were ultimately self-governed across the world and the post of Mayor was an important one. “ We have to move towards that direction and people should utilise the opportunity to come out, vote and ensure the outcome they want,” he said.

Local body elections were not about K. Chandrasekhara Rao, N. Chandrababu Naidu or other leaders who were deliberately propagating hero worship. At the end, aggressive campaigning, road shows and hoardings would not translate into anything if power was not transferred to division/community, he said.

The alliance had on its agenda a single call centre for people to access all municipal services, creation of ombudsman system to ensure that officers and corporators discharged their responsibilities, ensuring real safety and security for girls and women and setting up local courts to deal with cases of women harassment, and allotting funds to improve city infrastructure.

Courtesy: The Hindu