Changing the face of Urban Local Governanace: Sonia Vihar takes the lead

Changing the face of Urban Local Governance

Sonia Vihar is going to be the first ward in India where people are directly going to decide the direction of development bu institutionalizing citizen.s participation in Governance.

This is an initiative by Dr. Annapurna Mishra, Municipal Councillor of Sonia Vihar.

Nagar Raj Bill that ensures people's participation in governance through mohalla sabha and ward committee is not yet passed and enacted but Dr. Annapurna Mishra has decided to implement the same in her ward.

for details on the bill please click here:

Draft Nagar Raj Bill

Sonia Vihar ward consists of an unauthorized colony Sonia Vihar and most backward village of Delhi Badarpur Khadar. People of this ward are feeling left behind as they have no access to drinking water supply, no sanitation and drainage mechanism, no health center, no community center, no parks. The population of this ward is approximate 1,50,000.

So many people without are living under unimaginable conditions. Being an unauthorized colony, Councilor's local development fund can not be utilized for the developmental work.

Dr. Annapurna Mishra who is one of the highest educated municipal councillor in present house has decided to raise voice for the same. For this purpose she has decided to go for people's empowerment and capacity building to get basic amenities in the ward.

Implementing concepts of Nagar Raj is first step in this direction.

In Loksabha Election 2009: BJP emmerges as victorious from Sonia Vihar ward in Delhi

BJP has again emerged as a winner over Congress from Sonia Vihar ward in Delhi in recently held Loksabha Election 2009.

Sonia Vihar ward is part of North – East Loksabha constituency from where congress has won; in fact Congress has won all the seven seats in Delhi. There are only two Assembly constituencies and very few Municipal wards from where BJP has received more votes than Congress.

But in Sonia Vihar the story is different. The change has started after the victory of Dr. Annapurna Mishra in MCD elections from the ward. She has defeated congress candidate after five year rule of Congress councilor.

Immediately after her victory she has started working on the felt needs of people of the ward like drainage system for the ward, health center, community center and development of parks in the ward.

Sonia Vihar is an unauthorized colony and development work in the ward is next to impossible due to bureaucratic barriers. But under the leadership of DR. Annapurna Mishra the process of development has started and people of the ward have first time seen construction of pakka RCC streets in the ward. Process of acquiring lands and budget allocation for above mentioned initiates has also started.

Sine then BJP is winning from this ward and victory margin is increasing every time.

In recently held Loksabha elections BJP has got 10954 votes against only 8821 votes gained by Congress. This is a huge success keeping in view the undercurrent in favor of Congress in the city.

It is the result of Dr. Annapurna Mishra’s hard work and firm faith in people’s participation in development work.

Sonia Vihar is fastest changing unauthorized colony in Delhi.

People of Sonia Vihar have shown again that their verdict is for development.

People's Participation in development process

Dr. Annapurna Mishra has firm faith in people's participation in development process.
Soon Sonia Vihar would witness the first of its kind experiment where all development planning and implementation would be carried out with direct involvement from the citizens of the ward.
for detailed information, keep visiting this section.
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