BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa has taken it upon himself to manage the overall development of Bengaluru.
In order to avoid a tussle between two Vokkaliga leaders — Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan and Revenue Minister R Ashoka — the CM may have kept Bengaluru development and the district in-charge ministries with him.
But considering the fact that Bengaluru has one-fifth of the state’s population, looks like the CM has too much on his plate.
After much dilly-dallying, portfolios were finally allotted to ministers in the BSY cabinet. Yeddiyurappa ended up keeping many of the unallotted portfolios such as finance, Bengaluru development, power, agriculture and water resources, to name a few.
The list of district-in-charge ministers was announced on Monday but Yeddiyurappa kept Bengaluru district in-charge minister portfolio with him too.
Unfortunately, if Bengaluru does not have a designated minister soon, the city is likely to bear the brunt of it, experts say.
Bengaluru’s problems are much bigger than its size and population. Bengaluru has 198 wards and a population of at least 1.1 crore.
With 75 lakh vehicles on the roads, traffic is a perennial problem.
The city generates 6,000 tonnes of waste every day and not all of it is scientifically disposed.
Poorly maintained roads, drinking water crisis and fast depleting green cover are some of the other troubling issues.
According to former minister and Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy, Bengaluru cannot be treated like any other district.
He told TNIE that keeping Bengaluru development with the CM isn’t a good idea as problems need to be dealt with on an everyday basis.
“As a CM, he has the entire state to take care of. He should allot a Bengaluru development minister or a district in-charge minister. The CM can monitor the city overall. Bengaluru is a full-time job, not a part-time one,” he said.
Urban expert V Ravichandar said the state government should give more power to the urban local bodies. For Bengaluru, there is a need for a directly elected Mayor.
“But it cannot be done overnight. It has to be done by changing the act. Till then, the best option is to have a dedicated minister for Bengaluru,” he said.
Bengaluru has always had a dedicated minister to it.
In 2009, Yeddiyurappa had named Katta Subramanya Naidu (Bengaluru North) and R Ashok (Bengaluru South) as district in-charge ministers. After Katta’s resignation, Ashok became in charge of Bengaluru.
When the Siddaramaiah government came in 2013, KJ George was the Bengaluru Development Minister and was also given the district in-charge ministry.
After he resigned, Ramalinga Reddy took charge. When H D Kumaraswamy’s coalition government was in power, G Parameshwara, who was the Deputy CM, became Bengaluru development minister.