BENGALURU: In 1949, Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) was formed by merging two separate municipalities. The population was around 7.5 lakh. But in the last 76 years, especially after the IT boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bengaluru’s population has soared several-fold to 1.3 crore, resulting in the city’s mismanagement. This has created numerous problems, including bad roads, uncleared garbage, floods when it rains, potholes and many more.
The BCC was subsequently named Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in 1989, and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in 2007, with the corporation limits becoming bigger and wider, adding more number of wards, and has now become Greater Bengaluru Authority. Now, the State government has proposed to divide this area into seven municipal corporations but is likely to go for three or five smaller corporations. With this, it may come full circle as the BCC was formed by merging smaller municipalities.
According to the Economic Survey of Karnataka 2024-25, the BCC with seven divisions, subsequently increased to 50 divisions (later known as wards). As the city’s population increased, the BCC/BMP expanded to include 87 wards in 1991, and 100 wards in 1995. In 2007, it was increased to 198 when it became BBMP, and seven City Municipal Corporations, one Taluk Municipal Corporation and 110 villages were added.
Working without a Council
Bengaluru has witnessed more population and vehicular growth in the last two-and-a-half decades, but in these years, there was a council only for 15 years. This means, close to 10 years, the city’s civic issues were mainly administered by bureaucrats and not councillors. Since September 2020, Bengaluru has not had a Council and is administered by senior IAS officers.
According to a senior bureaucrat, the Greater Bengaluru Authority formation, including division of smaller corporations, delimitation of wards, reservation of councillors for these wards will take at least six to eight months, or even more if there are any legal hurdles.
This means the corporation elections may not be held anytime soon. The city will go on without a Council for more time. With the absence of councillors, the burden on MLAs, MPs and officials has increased. The duty of MLAs and MPs is to make laws and not monitor floods or stagnant water on roads.
Sources from BBMP said that with no Council, many central grants to Bengaluru have not been received. Under schemes like Amruth and even the 15th Finance Commission, there are grants for urban local bodies, and the last time BBMP received it was in 2021. Leader of Opposition R Ashoka termed Greater as ‘Quarter’ for dividing the city into smaller municipal corporations. The BJP alleges this is a tactic of the State government to postpone elections.
However, Deputy CM and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar has said that polls will be held in the next four months. According to Harish S, former Deputy Mayor and BJP leader, the party is gearing up to go to court. “Division of the existing BBMP is a model for failure. In Delhi, the civic authority was made into three corporations and after it failed, they merged into one.
Since BBMP came into existence, we have spent Rs 1lakh crore to develop the city uniformly, money was spent on roads, solid waste management and other services. Now they want to divide and bring GBA over these corporations. This is nothing but violation of the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. We are set to go to court and this will be struck down. If GBA decides everything, then what is the role of councillors,’’ he questioned.
When smaller is better
However, on the plus side, officials said that among the existing wards, the population of each ward varies from a few thousand to over 1 lakh, while ward grants will be the same for these wards, which is again an injustice. “With smaller municipalities, there will be better administration and better monitoring.
Though we have zonal commissioners in eight zones, they do not have powers. They cannot coordinate with the chiefs of other agencies, unlike commissioners. A commissioner’s job is not just within the office chamber, he has to visit wards. With 198 wards, it is practically not possible for him to give justice,’’ sources said.
On adding more areas to the existing BBMP area, an officer from BBMP, on condition of anonymity, said this is a good move as there are big buildings in panchayat areas which falls under peri-urban areas. “Gram Panchayats do not have the capacity to maintain or provide facilities to these buildings. If included under GBA, it will also benefit in terms of tax,’’ the officer said.
There is also a concern over revenue imbalance among segments. “We may see high revenue corporations and not so high revenue corporations. This also means the city’s development will be imbalanced,’’ said the official.
Former BBMP Commissioner Kumar Naik, now a Congress MP, said while Greater Bengaluru Authority is a welcome move, but it is not a panacea. “Other cities have experimented with similar models, have bifurcated corporations and then merged these administrative units later. Bengaluru must learn from these examples and ensure this reform is not cosmetic, but truly transformational,’’ he said.
Loss of decision-making powers
Civic activists are also unhappy over giving all decision-making powers to the GBA. Kathyayini Chamaraj, executive trustee, CIVIC Bangalore, said in GBA, all the para status comes under its ambit, and even solid waste management is under GBA. “All schemes are prepared by the state level body. Where is the autonomous factor of the local body, What authority will the elected body have if all is being done by GBA?” she questioned.
According to her, planning and bylaws are set by GBA. Even if the municipality wants to do any planning, it cannot as GBA has prepared it and will thrust it. Autonomy of the local body will be reduced only to pothole fixing. “Here, everything is decided by GBA. Even the budget will be done by GBA. Even if BBMP had existed as a single corporation, it could have decided the city’s project. But in GBA, it will not be possible,’’ she said.
Working of new system
Speaking to TNIE, Tushar Giri Nath, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) said with the implementation of Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA) from May 15, all other Acts, like the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act, will cease to exist.
“The area, which will be called Greater Bengaluru, has to be first notified. Once that is done, the area will be further divided as per Section 5 of the GBG Act,” said Giri Nath.
The top official also stated that there is a provision under GBG Act that provides the transition phase where the system can provide rules and provisions which will be applicable for transition.
Rizwan Arshad, Chairman of the Joint Committee of lawmakers on GBA, said the Act will ensure that power is decentralised. The outer areas will also get enough share in terms of projects and funds. He said small corporations will be good to administer and be transparent. In the present system in BBMP, every file has to come to the head office for clearance from only one chief commissioner. Once bifurcated, there will be a Commissioner for the respective corporation and a Mayor for 2.5 years.
Asked if GBA will undermine the powers of local corporators and the purpose of local bodies will be defeated, he said it’s a wrong assumption as all rules of local bodies will be intact. Big infrastructure projects will be done by the state governments, while annual maintenance, small projects, regular administration, tax collection and expenditure will remain with the corporation.
There are also concerns that since the CM is the chairman, he may not be able to attend meetings, and this will lead to delay and lacunae. Arshad stated that in the GBA Act, it is defined that once in three months, the CM will chair the review meeting and in his absence, the Bengaluru district in-charge minister will chair the meeting to review the progress. The idea is to simplify the administration of Bengaluru, he added.
On one side, the State government is keen on making ‘Brand Bengaluru’, on the other, the State capital is facing many civic issues, including uncleared garbage, potholes, lack of pedestrian paths and many more. One has to wait and watch if Greater will remain in the statute or bring Bengaluru old glory.
MILESTONES
1949
Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) | Population 7.5 lakh
1989
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike | Population 39 lakh
2007
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike | Population 80 lakh
2025
Greater Bengaluru Authority 1.4 cr