The Rs 5 lakh fund allot- ted to each ward of the KMC for carrying out development work is most likely to be cancelled owing to the failure of the councillors to constitute ward committees. Other than the 75 CPM- backed councillors, no one from the opposition party has shown any interest in forming ward committees. The Opposition councillors, however, feel that the CPM-backed KMC has not ad- hered to any rules while selecting apolitical persons as members of the committee. "There should at least be a separate room for the functioning of the ward committee. The committee cannot hold its discussion in the House of the councillor belonging to a particular po- litical party. ]

The idea of forming a ward panel becomes meaningless if there are no apolitical persons in it," said Atin Ghosh, Trinamool councillor and chairperson of the Municipal Accounts Committee. The main idea behind setting up a ward committee in every municipal ward was to ensure that the residents get proper access to civic amenities. The formation of the panel is supposed to ensure that there is a proper   governance system through decentralisation of functions by involving general citizens in the urban governance.

But in a majority of the cases, the neutral and apolitical people do not find any place in the ward committee. The committee's function is to earmark the responsibilities of the KMC with    regard to public safety and health, conditions of solid waste management, disposal of the dead and condition of the burning ghats and burial grounds.

In a nutshell, the ward committee's function is to monitor the civic body's work and ensure proper civic amenities to every citizen. The apolitical committee is also supposed to look into the progress of the delimitation issue that will have its impact on the 2010 municipal polls. Most of the councillors of the wards located in the southern part of the city,      Jadavpur and Behala (known as the added areas) have not formed any ward committee till date.

It is the same for councillors hailing from north Kolkata too. Defending the position of the CPM-backed civic body, Mayor Bikash Ranjan       Bhattacharya said: "I have appealed to all Opposition councillors to form ward committees. The money al- lotted for any municipal ward should be spent after discussion with the ward committee members. It will be too difficult to get funds for the wards if the committees are not formed immediately."