India: Council Meetings To Be Aired On TV

Mumbai, 15 April 2010

Just like you watch live Lok Sabha proceedings on television, you will be able to see how your local corporator behaves in the civic general body meetings on television.

On Tuesday, corporators cutting across party lines supported the decision to allow live proceedings of the general body meetings.

“It is the right of the citizens to know what their representatives are doing,” said Vinod Shekhar, Congress corporator.

The general body meeting is a platform where city fathers raise issues regarding the city and pass important decisions on civic issues.

Supporting the decision, Shiv Sena said it will ensure accountability among the corporators.

“With this move, the corporators will become more serious and this will encourage people to take up issues concerning the common man more effectively,” said Manohar Panchal, Sena corporator.

The civic body meetings have always acquired a pride of place where eminent personalities such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Ferozshah Mehta and Dinshaw Mehta have dominated the proceedings in the pre-Independence era and passed many proposals for the development of the city.

And after Independence, most top state politicians, including Manohar Joshi, Narayan Rane and Murli Deora, have learnt the ropes here.

However, the general body meetings have turned ugly in the recent past such as the incident of a Congress corporator being virtually stripped during one such meeting.

Media representatives said live telecast of the civic general body proceedings will really help the citizens.

“Corporators will become more careful while talking and people will be able to judge their representatives,” said Ravindra Ambekar, president of the TV Journalists’ Association.

Source: Hindustan Times