Public works were prime for the erstwhile rulers

MYSORE: When the municipal body was constituted, it set off a process in the erstwhile Mysore state leading to municipal administration across the princely state. Mysore’s municipal body, which is 150 years now, is the pioneer of local administration in the state. It started in 1860s when directions were issued to focus on proper administration of towns.
Interestingly, the state had seen a change in its top echelons of power around the time the directives were issued. After Sir Mark Cubbon demited office, Lewin Bentham Bowring assumed charge as the chief commissioner in February 1862, a post he held for seven years when many radical changes were effected. Interestingly, when the administrators gave effect to these principles forming a committee -- which eventually got Mysore municipal administration -- it was Bowring who was the chief commissioner here.During his period, the state was formed into three divisions with eight districts, including Mysore.
Each of the three divisions was headed by a superintendent, while the deputy superintendent headed the districts. “During the seven years when Bowring was the chief commissioner, the surplus revenue was no longer hoarded, but spent liberally on public works,” according to Mysore historian G Hayavadana Rao. He had noted in the Mysore Gazetteer: “Public offices were erected and municipalities established, sanitation and conservancy looked after to an extent previously unknown.” It was no wonder then that a public farewell was given to him when he left his job, owing to ill health.
What maharaja Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar started by setting up municipal body was continued by his successors, who invested heavily on municipal administration and gave it a new dimension experimenting with it. Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s successor maharaja Chamaraja Wadiyar’s 13-year reign (between 1881 and 1884) saw a number of municipalities rising from 83 to 107 across the state. The annual municipal receipts rose from Rs 2.76 lakh to Rs 5.63 lakh, and the annual expenditure on public works increased from Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 4.89 lakh with the municipal bodies focusing on creating basic amenities. The local funds revenue increased from Rs 5.75 lakh to Rs 8.75 lakh per annum. During his reign, municipalities were awarded Rs 1.25 lakh a year from the state revenues.
Special attention to sanitation was an important feature of the rule. In addition to ordinary sanitary works by municipalities, the maharaja devoted a whopping Rs 27.15 lakh from state revenue for improved sanitation of Mysore and Bangalore. His rule saw drainage built in Mysore, while the Poornaiah Canal was filled up and a road laid over it, and named it after Sayyaji Rao. During the regency of maharani Vani Vilas from 1885 to 1902, the number of municipalities rose from 107 to 124. The annual income rose from Rs 5.63 lakh to nearly Rs 8 lakh, indicating the continued focus the rulers and administrators had on municipal administration.