BANGALORE: Former chief secretary B S Patil is likely to head a committee which will look into the division of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given the nod to form the committee, which, according to sources in the Urban Development Department (UDD), will have three to five members, including the chairman. Former BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah is one of them. The committee will consider opinions of urban experts and the public on the division of the civic body and submit a report to the government in the next three months.
District in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the order on the formation of the committee will be issued by the CM’s office. “Election to the BBMP Council is in April 2015. Once the committee submits its report and it is approved by the government, the election will be conducted accordingly,” he said.
Congress Forms Panel
Meanwhile, the Congress has formed a 10-member committee, headed by senior leader B L Shankar, to consider the possibility of splitting BBMP. Former mayors are on the committee. Shankar told Express that a preliminary meeting was held on Wednesday. “We shall meet once a week. We will discuss and consider opinions from various stakeholders like prominent citizens, city MLAs, the district minister and NGOs,” he said.
The committee will also study the functioning of the city municipal corporations of Kolkata and Delhi. “There is no time frame, but we are expected to submit our report by October-end,” he said.
Meanwhile, Reddy said the official committee set up by the government was “final”. “All other parties can submit their views to the official committee.”
Zones Reorganised
On Reddy’s direction, BBMP authorities have completed reorganisation of zones. Earlier, older zones like South, East and West had six to eight Assembly constituencies, while Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Yelahanka and Mahadevapura included two and Dasarahalli and Bommanahalli zones one each.
“Now, all zones have four to five Assembly constituencies. We have added constituencies to the newly-formed zones. There is a review meeting in this regard on Thursday with minister Reddy,” a senior BBMP official said.