Dear Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar,
We write to you to express some concerns that Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF) and a significant section of the citizenry have regarding the proposed restructuring of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). At the outset, we do believe that there are positives in the concept.
However, there are concerns with the process, a few assumptions made, and the lack of details regarding the implementation of such a major decision.
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Our concerns are listed as follows:
- There is an assumption that the principal problem plaguing BBMP’s functioning is its size. This is clearly not the case as brought out even by the Restructuring Report of the Patil committee. The division of the BBMP is perhaps a last step in a series of more systemic measures.
- The BBMP, even currently, has a dearth of resources and skilled manpower. The division of the civic body will need an increased quantum of these resources to make it work. With no solution to the resources problem, the division will create more problems than solutions.
- An exercise of this magnitude will have significant implications for the exchequer. Not even the briefest of a white paper has been published on the impact and who will shoulder the same.
- We request a concrete rollout plan discussed in the public domain before taking the steps required to transform this proposal into an Act. Such a rollout plan could possibly list the various steps and crucial prerequisites that need to be in place before any final step is taken.
- The objective of bringing all parastatals into a coordinated Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) is certainly laudable. However, this will only be an exercise in futility without actually amending the individual Parastatal Acts to acknowledge their reporting structure to the GBA. This was attempted with the introduction of the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) a long time ago. The effort failed miserably. Without an appraisal of why the earlier attempt did not succeed it is unlikely that the present proposal will work this time around either.
- Of real concern is the imminent disempowering of the councillor and the city coming under state control. The citizens of Bengaluru desperately need a full time Mayor and empowered councillors to run the city on a daily basis and at a detailed level.
- The Chief Minister has the onerous task of leading our state. It is unfair to all concerned to expect a Chief Minister to devote adequate time and be involved in the day-to-day running of the city. The state government anyway has oversight powers on municipalities and we believe that the relation between the municipality and state should be maintained. There is a very real possibility, as it stands, for the city to be run by MLAs, MPs and the state government.
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Bengaluru needs a dedicated full-time mayor and empowered councillors
We already have the Nagarpalika Act or the 74th Amendment in our Constitution. We believe in many areas the GBA proposal will be hard pressed to stand up against this constitutional provision. Further, we have not even tried to implement the Constitution in spirit and law. The first step needs to be a close adherence to these constitutional provisions.
For the past four years, the city administration has not had an elected council, making the BBMP just a partial body. First delimitation, and then seat reservations were the reasons given to courts. Then we were assured that after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections we would have an elected council. Now, we would appear to have a new reason to justify postponement based on a 2016 report, which itself did not find favour with large segments of society. This gives some credence to the fear among many citizens that the GBA proposal is, in essence, another way of postponing elections indefinitely.
We ask that the right thing be done – to adhere to the Constitution, hold elections to the BBMP council and have a BBMP council, which is representative. The GBA proposal must be thought of as just that – an initial proposal. It needs to go through a standing committee, public discourses and discussions and a much stronger detailing for implementation and cost.
Meanwhile, there are a host of remedial actions that need to be taken within the BBMP, some of which the Restructuring Report itself identifies.
Further, the various individual Acts of the parastatals have to be changed to reflect their reporting to the BBMP or its successors.
We request for more public discussions and debates on this matter before enactment of the same. We also look forward to a confirmed date for the BBMP council elections so that we have a powerful Mayor with empowered councillors, who are directly answerable to the citizenry.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
Vijayan Menon
President, CAF