GVMC invites citizens’ inputs in preparation of budget

In a bid to encourage citizens’ participation, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has decided to initiate community-led participatory budgeting from the fiscal year 2021-22. In this regard, on 10 February, the civic body of Vizag and Janaagraha, a non-profit trust based in Bengaluru, entered into a three-year MoU for Urban Transformation. The MoU was signed by GVMC Commissioner, Dr G Srijana, Commissioner, and Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of Janaagraha Center For Citizenship & Democracy.

In the press release, the GVMC Commissioner, informed that the campaign called #MyCityMyBudget which was flagged off yesterday, aims to encourage citizens to share their inputs on the budget under phase 1 of the initiative. She further said that this move will enable citizens to provide budget inputs through Ward Secretariats. The ward volunteers stationed at these secretariats will forward the inputs. Starting from 11 February, people are encouraged to share their thoughts through the ward volunteers or reach out online https://www.janaagraha.org/vizag/.

Taking to Twitter, the GVMC shared, “Inviting the citizens of Vizag to project their aspiration in the yearly budget for inputs to make it participatory .”

The ‘MyCityMyBudget’ campaign was launched by Janaagraha, as a pilot project in 2015, in a few wards in Bengaluru. That year, they received 6037 citizen inputs on how the BBMP budget could be utilised. In 2016, Sharing his thoughts on the said partnership, Mr Srinivas Alavilli, Head Civic Participation, Janaagraha said that Janaagraha is very proud to enter into this MoU with one of India’s fastest-growing cities, Visakhapatnam.

Janaagraha will be working with the GVMC on three major aspects. Reportedly, the participatory budget for GVMC – Citizens will play a key role in making the budget of Vizag. The Bengaluru-based organisation will also be undertaking a study on the finances of the civic body and work towards improving its financial health.