July 30, 2024
📰 FEATURE STORY
Is the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill good for the city?
Any large metropolis is like a mechanism of interlocking parts that should fit snugly and function as a whole. Any rust and squeaks signal issues in the mechanism, and things can go awry. Governing such a mechanism is a mammoth task. If it’s a city like Bengaluru, India’s IT capital, doubly so.
To make things easier, the Karnataka government recently tabled the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill (GBGB) to “bring in effective governance, political accountability, and improve the quality of life”. The method proposed is to restructure the city’s civic administration by dividing it into multiple zones and forming a new body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). Is this really the right way to improve administrative efficiency and governance?
Context
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), established as the Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation in 1862, is responsible for sustaining and managing the city’s civic body and infrastructure.
Post-independence, two Municipal Boards merged to form the Corporation of the City of Bangalore in 1949 under the Bangalore City Corporation Act. It had 70 elected representatives and 50 electoral divisions. In 2007, the state government notified the merger of areas under the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (previously the Bangalore City Corporation and then the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike). Seven City municipal councils, one town municipal council, and 111 villages around the city formed a single administrative body called the BBMP.
The BBMP is responsible for the city’s day-to-day amenities. It includes zoning, building regulations, healthcare, upkeep of water bodies and parks, etc. Other obligatory functions include building and maintaining roads, waste disposal, maintenance of drains and sewage management.
Bengaluru has expanded and urbanised rapidly over the past few decades, and the civic body and officials have struggled to keep up.
Bengaluru is a city that has witnessed peri-urbanisation. It brought some important changes in the fringe areas. The peri-urban growth of Bengaluru is often attributed to population growth, IT corridors, and industrial development. This has led to haphazard and unplanned growth and management, especially for infrastructure and services. A population explosion with unplanned growth is a recipe for disaster.
The city’s core areas have grown, and so have the periphery areas. Officials have had to cater to both, in equal measure, as more people pool in from other parts of the state and elsewhere. It’s how governance and administration become difficult.
The Karnataka government wants to fix things with the GBGB. Split the BBMP into smaller corporations and set up a new apex body called the GBA. The rationale is smaller parts will be easier to manage than a big one. Does it make sense?
VIEW: It’s a good plan
Bengaluru isn’t the first city where such a plan has been proposed. A couple of years ago, Pune had the same idea. Earlier this year, the Congress government mulled expanding the limits of Greater Hyderabad and whether splitting up the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was the right approach. The impetus for all this is simple – cities aren’t getting smaller. In fact, quite the opposite. More people are moving to cities, and urbanisation has expanded beyond the core areas.
In the case of Bengaluru, splitting up seems like a no-brainer. Take the Greater Vishakapatnam Municipal Corporation, for example. It’s spread over 680 sq km, struggles to provide infrastructure, and is financially unhealthy. The areas of BBMP cover over 700 sq km. Bengaluru officials have cited the London model. It has multiple councils where decision-making is decentralised.
The BBMP will become efficient if it’s not the sole provider of all services in the city. It makes sense to have smaller corporations so officials can concentrate only on the people and things in their demarcated area. Think of three to four smaller corporations with 400 wards each. Bengaluru is among the fastest-growing and most densely populated urban areas in India. The current arrangement is no longer tenable.
COUNTERVIEW: It will backfire
The plan has been tried and tested before and failed. The state government is approaching this the wrong way. Bengaluru’s civic services like transport, water, and sewage are supposed to come under the Corporation. However, the state government monitors the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board. Merely splitting up won’t change things, certainly not for the better.
Delhi is a cautionary tale. The trifurcation didn’t work out despite a lot of planning. The BBMP already has the power to decentralise governance and fortify zonal committees under the BBMP Act. Bolstering the zonal system and rooting out the corruption and bureaucracy would go a long way. The fact that the BBMP hasn’t conducted its elections over the past four years might have something to do with people’s frustrations.
This isn’t the first time Bengaluru has seen this debate. In 2014, a committee led by BS Patil recommended dividing the BBMP into five zones. The government attempted a three-zone division in 2015 before the BBMP polls. The Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill was opposed by the BJP, JD(S), Kannada organisations, and other associations. If Bengaluru wants to become a thriving metropolis, fragmenting the city will only lead to economic disparities. The richer areas will fare better.
Reference Links:
- Move over BBMP, Greater Bengaluru Authority is here – Bangalore Mirror
- Bill referred to Joint Select Committee – Bangalore Mirror
- Will splitting BBMP help Bengaluru? – Deccan Herald
- Greater Management Or Mess For Bengaluru? Congress, BJP Exchange Barbs Over New Bill – News18
- Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill: Where is Brand Bengaluru vision? And the people’s voice? – Citizen Matters
- Lessons from Delhi for Bangalore: Why splitting the municipal corporation won’t solve problems – Scroll
- Split wide open: To divide BBMP or not? – Bangalore Mirror
What is your opinion on this?
(Only subscribers can participate in polls)
a) The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill is good for the city.
b) The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill is bad for the city.
🕵️ BEYOND ECHO CHAMBERS
For the Right:
The need for better criminal laws again
For the Left:
Agnipath is the biggest military reform. China has done it since 1997