BANGALORE: Times are changing rapidly and the change is more than evident in a city like Bangalore. But efforts to harness the ‘goodness’ in this change has been impeded due to the state government being embroiled in many controversies.
Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force (ABIDe) had proposed The Bangalore Metropolitan Region Governance Bill, 2010 (BMRGA), to ensure that more people are empowered with the introduction of this Bill. But the Bill, that was to be tabled in the previous Assembly session, could not be presented as the political parties were too busy fighting.
Member of Parliament Ananth Kumar, Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekar and many others had come together to draft this Bill as they felt the need to have a distinct set of laws to govern the city. They understood that a city of magnitude of Bangalore could not be developed in the same fashion as other cities in the state. Taking cue from other metros, this proposal was made to ensure that the overall development of the city does not suffer due to age-old laws.
Empowering communities
“This is a Bill made to ensure empowering communities and resident welfare associations to have a bigger say in the development in their wards,” Rajeev Chandrashekar, Convener of ABIDe, said. In a telephonic conversation with Express, he said this Bill would help increase legal and defined roles for such resident communities. He said the Bill was drafted with the help of experts and public inputs that came in the form of meetings and online comments.
“It was delayed but the government has assured ABIDe that they would ensure that it is tabled in the upcoming session,” he said. Commenting on the delays, he said the Bill would have been in the implementation stage if it was tabled in the last session. He added that since the Bill would not be affected due to the time frame it could help make Bangalore a better city to live in within the next few years.