Importance of Colony Welfare Associations in a city

A colony welfare association is a very important arm of any colony or cooperative society. It is a civic body that represents the interests of the tenants of the colony in their fight with the authorities to provide them the basic necessities.These associations play a very important role in colony development.This fact is amply exemplified by the Rahul Colony welfare association.An association in order to function properly has to lay down some ground rules for its members. If these rules are followed then the association can do better for the tenants of the society or colony.

The colony welfare association has made it mandatory for whoever gives out his or her house on rent to any tenant, to submit a photocopy of the rental agreement and the details about the tenant to the association office. A similar record also is furnished in nearest police station so that no antisocial element can rent a place anywhere in the society or colony.The aim of asking for a photocopy of the rental agreement is to avoid the society getting a bad name and also to avoid any untoward incident happening.Such colony welfare associations can be formed even in the slums and the illegal housing societies in India. These associations are typically registered through cooperative society’s acts which require 15 members from a given area in the association.These acts also lay down the rules for the establishment of the rules governing the position of a member of this association.They lay down specifications for membership criteria, voting rights, and the conditions under which the association office bearers or members can initiate legal proceedings on behalf of the society.The colony welfare associations make the tenants aware of the government programs involving such societies with their tenants in strategic governance decisions. The Delhi’s Bhagirdari Scheme is one such scheme.

These colony welfare associations have gained great importance in looking after the well-being of the tenants of the society. These associations have become increasingly involved in municipal politics and decision making since early 2000s and they have continued to play an important role in safeguarding the interests of the society members including tenants with regard to various government schemes and private schemes that private organizations announce from time to time. In short they are vital in looking after the interests of the members of the society or colony.

Take for instance the issue of the demolition of the illegal floors of the buildings of Campa Cola society. In this society, it was only the colony welfare associations that have played an important role in uniting the tenants and presenting a united front against the authorities.This example more than shows the role played by colony welfare associations in today’s times. More often than not they also take up civic matters like cleaning of the road adjacent to the society, lifting of dumped garbage outside the society gate, availability of power and electricity for the tenants of the society, etc.