A file photo of buildings in Bengaluru.
The issues of delimitation that will arise from decentralisation of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) under the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill 2024, the usage of a Kannada word instead of ‘Greater’, and conducting elections for the BBMP were some of the important suggestions provided by citizens at public consultation meetings on the Bill on Monday.
The meetings were held in the East and Mahadevapura zones of the BBMP and attended by Rizwan Arshad, Shivajinagar MLA, who heads the joint legislature committee examining the Bill.
Most citizens flagged the issue of shortage of time to study and analyse the Bill as the draft was made available through a link just a couple of days before the meeting.
“The time given is extremely short for such an important Bill and is very poorly advertised where many citizens have no access to the notification. Normally, 30 days are given for a full study and a considered response. The first notification of this consultation had no reference or details or transcript of the Bill itself. This was modified and a link was provided only three or four days before the consultation dates,” said a letter submitted by the Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF) to Mr. Arshad.
Some other citizens pointed out that rather than splitting the BBMP into many smaller bodies, it is essential to constitute the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC). “There was no mention of the BMPC during the meetings. The population under the BBMP currently is around 1.2 crore. When split, each corporation will have more than 10 lakh people and the Constitution has made it clear that if there are more than 10 lakh people, then there should be an MPC. Hence, if they split the BBMP into 10 parts, then there should be 10 MPCs,” said Kathyayini Chamaraj, civic activist.
She also said that the formation of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) under the Bill will lead to urban inequality as municipal councils, municipal corporations, and the GBA will all have different laws and rules for urban citizens.
Shwetha R., a civic activist from Balagere, said that no definitive responses were given during the meeting. “They did not have answers for how many years it would take to implement the Bill or incorporate our suggestions. They did not tell us if the BBMP elections will be conducted after the Bill is passed or if all the infrastructure work that is pending will be taken up on war footing as the problems of the common people cannot wait until the Bill is passed.”
Constitutional suggestions will be taken
Mr. Arshad while calling it a successful consultation meeting, told The Hindu: “We understand the concerns of the public. We will take up their suggestions if they are constitutional and if they come under the purview of the law. As far as time is concerned, we have also provided an email address to which they can send their suggestions. We have two more days of these meetings, and we should see how they go.”
Public consultation for four zones today
The city’s civic body has organised two public consultation meetings for residents of four zones in the city on the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, on Tuesday.
Residents of South and Bommanahalli zones can voice their opinions at a meeting at R.V. Dental College, I Phase, J.P. Nagar from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Residents of R.R. Nagar and West zones can do so at a meeting at Dr. H. Narasimhaiah Hall, Jnanabharati campus, Bangalore University, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Shivajinagar MLA and Joint Legislature Committee chair Rizwan Arshad will preside over both meetings.
Published – February 10, 2025 09:38 pm IST