Need for transparency stressed

A one-day workshop on economic sources of civic bodies was held in Rajkot early this week. It was jointly organised by the All India Institute of Local Self Government, Rajkot chapter, and the Shri Arvindkumar Maniar Jankalyan Trust.

The workshop was by and large focused on the need to understand the econometrics of local civic bodies, policies to be adhered to and how best the resources can be utilised to improve the performance of civic bodies.

Outlining the importance of the session, professor S S Mehta, demographer from the School of Planning affiliated to the Centre for Environment Planning & Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, said, "At present, Gujarat has seven major municipal corporations and by 2025 we are expecting 12 more in the state. In that case it becomes very necessary to understand the complete econometrics and functioning of the civic bodies based primely on crucial parameters of input and output."

Jai Narayan Vyas, an expert and politician stressed the need for transparency in the civic governance saying, "Out of the total funds allocated to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), hardly 66 per cent is spent. There is no transparency due to rationalisation of taxes."

Talking of public private partnership models, Vyas said, "PPPs have exhibited tremendous results but they should be designed keeping in view the civic requirements of a particular centre, because at times it is not affordable."