BENGALURU : The new legislation especially for Bengaluru, which was released by the Government late on Monday night, has drawn strong criticism. Citizen-activist groups and former corporators from opposition and ruling BJP have opposed the bill, terming the BBMP Act 2020 just a rehash of the Karnataka Municipal Act, while many others have started a signature and opinion campaigns.
Tara Krishnaswamy from Citizens for Bengaluru said the aim of the Act was to make administration easier. But with the inclusion of 110 villages into BBMP limits, the problem has remained the same, and the addition of another one kilometre (through the new Act) will have no impact.
The Act would only help the real estate sector and give more powers to political parties. The government should have adopted best practices from other cities, and included the feedback given by citizens to decentralise Bengaluru or divide the city into various corporations, but none of it has been done, she said.
City experts said that since the government has not included civic agencies such as BDA, BWSSB, Bescom and others under the BBMP Act, smooth administration and redressal of citizen grievances will continue to be a challenge.
A senior BJP leader said, “The term of the Mayor has been increased in the new Act, but the powers of the Mayor have been stripped. It is just a cut, copy, paste of KMC Act. The new Act gives no powers to corporators. It is a violation of the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution. The government has released it in a hurry, with shallow or no perspective in it.
Suggestions made by party workers have been ignored.” Abdul Wajid, a former Congress corporator, said, “The only good thing is that the Mayor’s term has been increased from one year to 30 months. But the sad part is that he or she has little power. Bureaucrats head the adminstration, the zonal committees, and form the budget and make decisions for Bengalureans. The corporators are only for namesake.”