Heeding to the demands of the Congress, the ruling BJP government in Karnataka on Tuesday agreed that a much awaited legislation with regards to Bengaluru city governance aimed at restructuring the civic body BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), will be passed only after detailed deliberations. The Bill has now been referred to a joint select committee.
Incidentally, it was not only the Congress but also some BJP MLAs from Bengaluru themselves who opposed ratifying the Bill.
While Revenue Minister R Ashoka had tabled the Bill from the government’s side and spoken in favour of passing it without further discussions, some of his other party colleagues elected from the city, demanded further scrutiny by the legislators.
The Congress through four city MLAs—-former state president DInesh Gundu Rao, former ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, Ramalinga Reddy and Rizwan Arshad, wrote a letter to Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri to send the Bill to a joint select committee of both Houses.
Pointing out that most of them had not even got the copy of the bill and opposition Congress and JD(S) members too were not present in the House, BJP MLAs said, "We need to take the opinion of opposition members too on this important bill, so the bill be referred to joint select committee."
Speaking on this, Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad told TNM, “While we support the government’s decision to table an exclusive legislation to govern Bengaluru, what we want is the bill to be debated, consulted not only with legislators but by all stakeholders, be it citizens or experts. I am glad that the Speaker and the government accepted our demand.”
He added, “We are in agreement with everyone who says that BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) is an unscientific body which has become a burden. In fact, we as Congress party have first proposed this and the Bill which we passed was done through wide ranging consultations. So what we suggested was that the government does not decide alone but bring in all stakeholders.”
Reacting to this development, Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, a pan-city activist group, said, “This Bill is a piece of legislation which is very seminal and will dictate the fate of the city for decades to come. Currently, we are governed by the decades old Karnataka Municipal Act and this new law that will be passed, which will impact the lives of crores of people who live in the city, will also last decades. There is a need for wide ranging public consultation from various sections of the society.”
She added, “Even during this corona crisis, we see aspects that governments tend to miss; feedback is very critical. That GoK (Govt of Karnataka) tried to rush it on the last day of the session without deliberation is unwarranted. There must be well arranged feedback mechanisms for the Bill. I am glad that the opposition wrote a letter, and the BJP MLAs did not act in a partisan manner and raised objections.”
Outline of the Bill
The Bill, in its statement of objectives and reasons, states that Bengaluru, which is a major centre of economic activity with a large and growing population with 714 sq km area, is under the jurisdiction of BBMP, which has been established and governed under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.
It says that the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act is inadequate in administrative and structural matters to govern Bengaluru as it provides limited flexibility and is a common legislation catering to nine smaller municipal corporations.
It adds there is an urgent need to formulate an independent legislation for the working of BBMP for the purpose of improving decentralisation, integration of public participation at various levels of municipal governance and ensuring effective decision making by municipal authorities.
Among various things, the bill proposes for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to hold office for a period of five years, increasing it from the current one year.
Incidentally in 2015, the Congress government had passed a BBMP restructuring bill framed by former Chief Secretary BS Patil and city evangelist V Ravichandra. The proposed legislation had called for splitting BBMP into more than three smaller civic bodies.
That Bill did not get the assent of the Governor after joint opposition from the BJP and the JD(S), who expressed reservations about it.
(With PTI Inputs)