Coronavirus makes MCC set up ward committees

As per the government’s July 9 notification, Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) is all set to train and form ward-level committees in six wards with the objective to contain Covid-19 from Wednesday onwards.

“The training and forming of committees will be initially limited to these six wards (30, 40, 41, 45, 47 and 57), identified as most vulnerable wards due to the huge number of Covid cases,” Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and in-charge MCC Commissioner Dinesh Kumar said.

The two-day training imparted to us by the Directorate Of Municipal Administration (DMA) will be simplified into a set of instructions and shared with the staff of primary health centres, corporators and representatives from the area, he said.

In the first such meeting, held in MCC building, corporators from these six wards were familiarised with the formation and monitoring of ward-level committees. These committees after receiving training will trace, track and identify those with Covid-19 symptoms.

“These committees, who are also the first level of contact, will supply medicines from the nearest primary health centre or arrange ambulances to shift patients to Covid Wenlock Hospital,” Dinesh Kumar told DH.

The entire objective of this exercise is to ensure that people do not panic. Many people besides those with co-morbidities had also panicked and died, informs Dinesh.

On whether to conduct training sessions on online platforms like Zoom or in a hall with PowerPoint is still undecided, he said and added that soon such ward committees will be formed in all 60 wards.

Activist Nigel Albuquerque, who had moved the High Court on the formation of ward-level committees and area sabhas in MCC, said there were provisions to set up disaster management cells under the Ward Committee Rules 2016.

I hope these committees will translate into ward-level and area sabha committees. “Once set, a precedent cannot normally be discontinued,” added Nigel.