No women in 85 city ward committees in Chennai

CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu: As per the gender and caste-based analysis of nominated members conducted by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), there are no female members in the ward committees in 85 wards, out of a total of 200 in the city. A Councillor nominates 10 members, one from each area, to the ward committee. Half of these councillors consisted of women, and the nomination process has been completed recently.

There were 10 wards each in Teynampet, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Alandur zones, and there were no women representatives in these ward committees. On the other hand, there were nine wards with no women representatives in Anna Nagar, Thiruvottiyur and Valasaravakkam zones as per the report of the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC). In another 10 ward committees, out of a total of 36, there was only one woman representative.

Out of 2,000 members, gender and caste-based data is available for only 1,449 members. Of these 1,449 members, 1,352 were men, and 97 were women. Highest women representation was found in wards 15, 75 and 188, where four out of 10 members were women. There were five ward committees with three women members, and in another 15 ward committees, there were only two women members respectively.

Around 390 members of the ward committees come from Schedule Castes, 527 come from Backward Caste (BC), 323 from Most Backward Caste (MBC), and there was only one person belonging to Schedule Tribe category. Out of 1,285 members about whom the caste-based data is available, only three were BC (Muslims). Vanessa Peter of IRCDUC said, “The Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Ward Committee and Area Sabha) Rules, issued on 24^th June 2022 by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department should incorporate reservation for women, persons with disabilities, trans persons and other vulnerable groups in rules notified.”