BBMP panel bats for 5 corporations

BENGALURU: 198 wards and five corporations, and a three-tier structure. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has been presented with much the same plan to restructure the BBMP as the one that has been gathering dust with the previous administration including setting up a mayoral council where the Mayor calls the shots, in line with the recommendations on better governance as outlined in the Kasturirangan Report, On Thursday, the CM was brought up to speed on the recommendations of the committee headed by former chief secretary B. S. Patil for a separate Act to govern BBMP in the fast growing IT capital.

The erstwhile Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act holds good for smaller towns and not for a fast-growing metropolis like Bengaluru which is spread across 800 sq. kms.   Under the three-tier structure, the first will comprise of ward committees, the five corporations will be the second tier, while the top tier will be the Greater Bengaluru Authority.  The three member committee for restructuring Bengaluru’s governance has suggested a three -tier administration for the city with a Mayoral Council and a Greater Bengaluru Municipal Authority on top and five corporations and ward committees forming the  two layers below.

Speaking to reporters after presenting their report, committee members, B S Patil, S Siddaiah and Ravichandran said it had also proposed a separate legislation for Bengaluru’s administration and  new cadre and recruitment rules for the staff.   The report , prepared after careful study of the administration  of large cities like London, Paris and Johannesburg, has recommended that the Mayoral Council should be vested with all executive powers and comprise of 20 members  directly elected by the people and experts nominated by the Mayor.

While the corporations would comprise of corporators , the ward committees would have members drawn from resident welfare associations and local people to make the administration transparent and decentralised. “Care has been taken to ensure the financial sustainability of each corporation. But if the government wants to reduce their number , parallel plans for three and four corporations have also been submitted,” they said, adding that for the first five years, the Chief Minister himself should govern Bengaluru.

The committee has also recommended increasing the number of wards from 190 to 400. “The present structure is unscientific. While some of the wards have a 20, 000 population,  some have upto one lakh people. The new system we have suggested will be based on the dynamic nature of each ward,” the members explained. Noting that the city was not tapping even 20 per cent of its revenue potential through property tax, the committee maintained that it could generate revenue to the tune of over Rs 7000 crore if it tried. It has also suggested a written examination for all candidates looking for jobs in city administration. Speaking to reporters after receiving the report, Chief Minister Mr H D Kumaraswamy said  the government would study it in detail and examine the feasibility of implementing its recommendations.