Mayors face governance problems as urban local bodies lack

Due to inadequate capacity building and non existence of powers with the urban local bodies, mayors across the country are facing problems in governance.
The issue came up for discussion during a conference on 'Innovations of Urban Governance' organised here today. Several mayors voiced their concerns on the entire governance process.
Acknowledging the problems being faced by the mayors, R Ramanujam, secretary to Prime Minister, said, "The urban local bodies are expected to discharge several responsibilities for which they do not have adequate powers. There is inadequate capacity building. Most decisions are taken by the state governments and there is no active participation of the local bodies. This is a structural problem."

In terms of constitutional provisions, state governments have to empower the local bodies.
"It is basically the state legislators which need to take adequate measures to empower the local bodies and if they are empowered, the mayors will automatically get empowered. The Constitution also has the provisions of ward committees and in some places it has been set up, while in others it is not effective," Ramanujam said.