'BBMP Bill fails to address basic issues facing Bengaluru'

Bengaluru: The civic activists in the city are of the view that the BBMP Bill, 2020 is a missed opportunity for transformation of Bengaluru. They opined that the Bill should have been far more ambitious, comprehensive and based on a far more systematic, consultative and well-informed process.

Janagraha, an NGO, stated that quality of life in Bengaluru cannot be transformed through such half-hearted measures.

According to Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janaagraha, "The silver lining is decentralisation of powers and functions of zones and wards and citizen participation through ward committees and area sabhas. However we need to emphasise to the State government that major missing pieces such as metropolitan governance, spatial planning, and financial and human resource capacities, besides digitalisation need to be addressed soon for meaningful change on the ground."

According to Srinivas Alavilli, Head – Civic Participation, Janaagraha, "India's fastest growing city deserves better governance. Does this BBMP Bill 2020 address the biggest problems of our city? The answer is a big no. Does it make it slightly better? The answer is yes. It is unsettling that such a major legislation has been passed in a hurry without even consulting civil society or experts even thought a select committee has been set up by the Speaker to do exactly that. We request the government to hold public consultations at least now as we venture into new governance model being prescribed by this Bill."

The upside

♥ Creation of decentralised structures with zonal committees, ward committees, area sabhas. Zonal committee to be headed by councillor instead of a zonal commissioner

♥ Increase in mayoral tenure from one year to 30 months, devolution of all 18 functions under the twelfth schedule of the constitution

♥ Mandate for a Medium Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP), provision for comprehensive debt limitation policy

♥ Formation of Grievance Redressal Authority for municipal service related issues

♥ Provision for performance management system in BBMP

The downside

♥ No provisions for a robust and coherent metropolitan governance mechanism

♥ Spatial planning and natural environment ignored

♥ No provisions on predictable finances to BBMP

♥ Inadequate reforms to Cadre and Recruitment rules

♥ Absence of technology backbone for Bengaluru's governance

♥ Lack of public consultations, and expert inputs

♥ Lack of transparency in select committee proceedings

♥ Possibility of further expansion in boundaries without first assessing capacities

♥ No accountability of parastatals such as BDA, BWSSB, KSDB, BWSSB etc to BBMP and citizens