BENGALURU: The state legislature Joint Review Committee, which examined the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, tabled its recommendation in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The committee, headed by Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad, recommended splitting the existing Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) into not more than seven smaller corporations and to establish a Greater Bengaluru Authority, headed by chief minister, for coordinating and supervising development work.
The committee recommended the terms of the mayor and deputy mayor to be 30 months. It also suggested that the Bill be tabled in both houses.
The Greater Bengaluru Authority, it suggested, will monitor and coordinate development work in the Greater Bengaluru area. It will to integrate and streamline accountability of all public authorities delivering services in Greater Bengaluru. “Our committee discussed decentralisation of power, transparency, controlling corruption and other issues. For all these issues, reclassification of BBMP is the solution,’’ Rizwan said.
Tabling the recommendations, Rizwan said the committee met various stakeholders, including the advocate general and legal experts, city MLAs, public organisations and the common public at various zones across Bengaluru. Many sent their suggestions through email.
Rizwan said when BBMP was formed in 2008, Bengaluru’s population was around 75 lakh and now, in 2025, it is around 1.4 crore and vehicular population itself is one crore. There is no coordination between BBMP, BWSSB, BMRC, BMRCL and other civic agencies.
Panel: Each of seven corporations should have equal wards
To give good governance and to maintain it, the existing Palike’s work should be reviewed and its powers decentralised, he said.
The committee stressed that each of the seven corporations should have an equal number of wards and a corporation should not have more than 100 wards. A candidate contesting elections should not be allowed to stand from two wards.
It also stressed that ward committees should be empowered and made basic units of urban governance to facilitate community participation. It recommended that Greater Bengaluru Authority will release capital grants allotted by the state government for major works. Each city corporation should be named with a common prefix- Bengaluru.