BENGALURU: Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP) has made seven key recommendations to the House panel reviewing the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill (GBGB), 2024.
Some of the recommendations include the empowerment of the mayor and a 5-year term; constitution and empowerment of a Mayor-in-Council with powers over the budget prepared by the ward committee; empowerment of corporators on budget, and others.
The party recommended that the mayor be elected for a five-year term, like prime ministers and chief ministers, and must have the power to appoint the Mayor-in-Council, which will collectively decide on municipal governance as per the proposal of the Brand Bengaluru committee as well as a chief commissioner/commissioner to be appointed by and to report to the mayor, apart from a commissioner appointed by the State government.
This will decentralize and ease decision-making, the BNP said. It also batted for the constitution and empowerment of a Mayor-in-Council with powers over the budget prepared by the ward committee. “The city governance executive powers are to be held by the Mayor-in-Council.
The mayor and Mayor-in-Council is to be vested with the power to decide and allocate at least 60 per cent of the budget, based on population and area of each ward,” the party suggested to the House panel.
Besides, it wants corporators to be authorised to present the ward budget and ward development plan at the start of every year, as prepared by the ward committee. Also, all urban and municipal functions must be devolved to municipalities as per Schedule 12 of Indian Constitution.