Whitefield citizens use crowdsourcing to hold BBMP accountable

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Whitefield Citizens Shadow Ward Committee is a group of active citizens in Whitefield Ward who have come together to ensure effective ward committee meetings and improvement of ward management by BBMP.

The committee started as a WhatsApp group in September 2022 and has since built a Ward Resources Repository, circulated a Google form to capture issues that citizens were highlighting needed attention, and presented these issues at Ward Committee Meetings.

The committee is working on an interactive platform to crowdsource instances of violations that are not being addressed, submit the lists to the authorities, and also display violation locations on an interactive digital map.

The committee has also launched a website and a Twitter handle for public interaction and awareness generation. The restless and creative citizens in Whitefield Ward will keep sprouting innovations to improve the quality of life in their ward.

The committee's work was disrupted by the State General Elections in February 2023, but it resumed once a new Joint Commissioner for the Mahadevapura zone was appointed.

The new JC promised that ward meetings would be held every 1st Sat and 3rd Sat of every month, by default, and no individual notices would be necessary hereafter. She also assured action on illegal construction, footpath encroachments, and illegal OFC cables.

Some of the key achievements of the Whitefield Citizens Shadow Ward Committee are, presenting these issues at Ward Committee Meetings and ensuring that they were recorded and followed up.

They even launched an interactive platform to crowdsource instances of violations and display them on an interactive digital map.

Sandeep Anirudhan, Convenor of Namma Whitefield said, “We decided to support the JC with a follow-up activity, by crowdsourcing reports from the public via a 'Spot Violations campaign', through which the public can report instances where violations continue, and the reports will be summarised and submitted to the JC.”

He also shared the plan to upload an interactive online map that will help citizens expose violations.