BBMP

A separate law for Bengaluru’s governance, to solve the city’s countless civic problems, has been on the cards since 2008. But when the state Legislature eventually passed the BBMP Bill on December 11, it seemed that years of deliberations on the law had been futile. It was in 2008 that the Kasturirangan Committee report on ‘Governance in the Bangalore Metropolitan Region and BBMP’ suggested a separate municipal law for Bengaluru (instead of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, that applies to all corporations in the state). In 2010, the ABIDe task force - constituted by the BJP government under B…

Decentralisation is a word that we often hear and appreciate. We, however, see it as a distant concept that operates far from our lives. Images that come to mind when we think of decentralisation are panchayat raj or self-help groups, etc. We do not, for instance, think of this term — which means dissipation of power from one to many — when it comes to urban issues. More often than not, we think of the urban settings as organised spaces. To us, everything falls under the realm of urban planning; that gives us a semblance of structure to the chaotic…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Janaagraha’s #MyCityMyBudget annual campaign, meant to involve citizens in the making of the city’s budget, was kicked off on Tuesday.  The thrust of this year’s campaign is to improve public toilets, end public urination and ensure pedestrian-friendly footpaths.  The campaign that will  be live for a month, seeks inputs from citizens for the next BBMP Budget. Citizens can submit their proposals at: https://www.ichangemycity.com/mcmb2020. BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said that inputs are welcome through email, apps, forms and even through the budget van. He recalled that in the year 2017-18, the campaign received 22,000 suggestions…

The Technical Advisory Committee of the Government of Karnataka gave clarifications on the use of masks, on October 27. Following is a press release from the BBMP based on this. Use of masks in public places Whether a person driving alone in a four-wheeler with the window glasses closed should wear a mask?Answer: Wearing a mask is mandatory. (a) Whether an individual driving alone in a four-wheeler without any fellow traveller in the car should wear a mask If the window glasses are open and the car is parked near the traffic signal? (b) If he opens the window glasses…

BBMP is not equipped to handle the problems within its limited area of 712 sq km, let alone those in the larger Bengaluru Metropolitan Region. Pic: BBMP Part 1 of this series explored why the recently-introduced BBMP Bill is problematic. In this part, the author proposes an alternative governance structure for the city. The recently-introduced BBMP Bill proposes splitting the 198 wards in Bengaluru to 225, but not bringing about major changes in the functioning of the bankrupt, dysfunctional BBMP. Besides, given the entire Bengaluru Metropolitan Region (BMR) of 8,005 sq km is urbanising rapidly, the governance of Bengaluru needs to…

It is said that doing the same experiment again and again under the same conditions and expecting a different result each time is schizophrenic. Bringing another legislation, the BBMP Bill, to improve the same dysfunctional BBMP is such an example. Over the past week, the Joint Legislative Committee (JLC) appointed by the state government has been deliberating on the BBMP Bill, a separate Bill for the administration of Bengaluru. This Bill is to replace the KMC (Karnataka Municipal Corporations) Act which is currently the basis for the administration of Bengaluru (and other municipalities in the state). BBMP Bill proposes increasing…

In an online meeting with apartment RWA representatives on August 14, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad clarified doubts on COVID management. The meeting covered the current rules on containment zones, festival permissions, waste management, quarantine and isolation guidelines, etc. BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance & IT) Rajendra Cholan, and Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management & Animal Husbandry) Randeep D also attended the session. Following are some key questions answered at the meeting. Q: Will houses with COVID patients continue to be barricaded? Having received multiple complaints from citizens on inhuman barricading of COVID-positive houses, Manjunath clarified this practice would no longer…

NEP: Debate on medium of instruction The new National Education Policy (NEP) has revived the debate on whether Kannada should be the medium of instruction in primary classes. NEP recommends that the medium of instruction be in local/regional language. School managements point out that the NEP goes against the apex court’s verdict that imposition of mother tongue as the medium of instruction is “unconstitutional”. In the 2019-20 academic year, Karnataka government too had started English-medium sections in government schools. . Meanwhile, sources from the Kannada Development Authority said the state language should be made mandatory since there are various local…

Complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 Bengaluru will go into complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 in the wake of surging COVID cases, state government announced on Saturday. The lockdown will be in effect in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22. Essential services like hospitals and grocery shops will be allowed, along with scheduled exams. Detailed guidelines would be released on July 13, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa tweeted. On Saturday, Bengaluru reported a record 1,533 new cases, taking its overall COVID tally to 16,862. The city…

Daily COVID cases near 1000-mark On Friday, July 3, Bengaluru reported 994 cases of COVID-19. With this, the city overtook Kolkata in the total number of positive cases. The day before, on July 2, 889 cases had been reported. As of 2nd, Bengaluru topped the list of 30 districts in the state in terms of fresh cases reported, most cumulative deaths (100), and most active cases (5505). However, Padarayanapura, Shivajinagar and Hongasandra that seemed to be on the verge of community transmission until recently, now have zero positive cases. But these localities remain containment zones, as a preventive measure. Meanwhile,…