The necessity of empowering city governments to take on more challenges is even clearer in light of the current pandemic. Our op-ed on CitizenMatters argues that in the current crises, it is necessary for city governments to be enabled to take on more and ensure the health of their residents.  It is imperative that our city governments build on their competitive advantage of being the closest to citizens. Being the country with the largest number of locally elected representatives in the world, India has the opportunity to utilise this competitive advantage to make governance more localised. This would be aided by the relatively larger trust that the citizens place in local representatives as compared to other government agents like state level officials and police. 

Examples from the past month have shown that the city governments are capable of taking up increased responsibilities and responding to the different needs under pandemic situations. 

• In Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation sealed buildings of suspected and confirmed coronavirus positive persons and utilised health workers to survey the residents for symptoms. 

• Shimla Municipal Corporation set up a separate team to collect waste from the houses of quarantined persons in special bags which were sanitised before sending to the disposal plant. Other measures included increasing salaries and providing ration and PPE to the safai karamcharis. 

• Nagpur Municipal Corporation introduced skill building opportunities for migrant workers and homeless persons sheltered in the night shelters, so that they can be prepared to earn a livelihood after the lockdown.

• Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, in association with Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd, sprayed disinfectant through drones.

• Kohima Municipal Council directed the wards to form vigilant teams to monitor and implement government directives.

• Nashik Municipal Corporation decided not to impose penalty fees on late submission of property taxes because of the COVID19 outbreak.

• Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is utilising the women’s Self Help Groups under it to manufacture masks, thereby providing livelihood to the women and ensuring adequate supply of masks.

Some examples from other countries that show the diverse ways in which local governments can act to lessen the adverse effects of lockdowns:

• The local government in the small Italian town of Castellino del Biferno minted its own currency to support the local economy.

• The Milan local authorities have plans to implement the Strade Aperte (Open Street) scheme, which will create 35 kms long cycling routes, decrease car usage, and open up more space for commercial activities on roads.

• Decisive steps taken by the mayor of Zahara de la Sierra, a small town in Spain, resulted in the touristy town escaping the infection.

New Imaginations of the City

The experience of being under the lockdown has revealed newer sides of our cities while underlining already known truths. It has given hope for cities which are more environmentally conscious and less polluted. People are already realising the difference, breathing in fresher air, and seeing hills and mountains in the distance that were not visible before. A better tomorrow will have to include cities where breathing clean air is not imaginable only under lockdowns.

Post-lockdown, our cities must address their problems regarding inequality. We have witnessed how sudden emergency situations like lockdowns disproportionately affect the poor and the migrants. We are all parts of a larger whole and the vulnerability of one part makes the whole vulnerable too. If one section of our cities’ residents are unable to observe disease prevention measures because of lack of adequate housing, food insecurity, social vulnerability, and information gaps, that makes the whole city susceptible to infection. We need to make sure that in the coming months and years, our cities are more equitable in their service delivery, including health services, which would require government processes to be made more streamlined and localised.