Government drops plan to divide BBMP?

BENGALURU: The ruling Congress, which even moved an amendment to KMC Act to divide BBMP, now seems inclined to retain it as a single entity. A senior minister told the media that the party had, in fact, come to terms with the idea that BBMP could be headed by single mayor and a deputy mayor. “We are in favour of reshaping and rebranding Bengaluru, and trifurcation is not the only solution to achieve this objective,” the minister observed.

According to him, the select committee of the Legislative Council, headed by IT and BT minister S. R. Patil, to examine the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, had sent four teams comprising senior officials of BBMP to study the structure of various corporations in metropolitan cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

"We received their reports, and all corporations are running smoothly except Delhi, where it was split into three a couple of years ago. The study reveals that Delhi is facing myriad of problems including major administrative challenges. Other corporations, however, are working smoothly and have even become financially independent as they are able to mop up resources. As a consequence of this, the ruling party is unlikely to press for trifurcation of BBMP. Instead, it might look for other methods to strengthen it,” the minister added.