BENGALURU: The state government’s announcement, in the budget, to form a separate Municipal Corporation Act for Bengaluru was welcomed by administrators and experts.So far, the functioning of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is under the Karnataka Municipal Act, 1976, and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa cited that since problems of Bengaluru are complex and pose major challenges, a separate Act is required.
A senior BBMP official said, “The new legislation will address the gaps in the existing KMC Act and will look into the problems of Bengaluru alone. There will be a separate planning authority and it will be on the lines of Mumbai model, where special powers are given to special commissioners, while the commissioner handles the coordination. It is the need of the hour.”
BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar said it is a path-breaking initiative and will help in ensuring better coordination with all other civic agencies and ensure better utilisation of resources. He said that the new Act will have nothing to do with the delimitation of wards.
Urban Development Department officials pointed out that this was part of the BJP’s manifesto and was flagged by BBMP officials in many review meetings. “We also think that it is required as Bengaluru is looked at through the same lens as KMC Act, which governs all the 256 urban local bodies.”
A former BBMP official said it is not a new announcement. “The task of forming the rules was given to NLSIU. But it slowed down. Now that it has been taken up, it means that the government did not take its own decision seriously before.”
Bengaluru to get its own twin towers
If the budget proposals presented on Thursday are implemented, Bengaluru would be set to have one more skyscraper, a 25-storeyed twin tower building at Anand Rao Circle. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Thursday proposed such a building at Anand Rao Circle to house all government departments. He has set aside Rs 400 crore for the project, the Detailed Project Report for which would be prepared in the 2020-21 financial year.