Decentralisation of the Bengaluru civic body – the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) - has been a long-standing demand of numerous civic activists in the city over the last few years. This demand may come to fruition as the Karnataka government has decided to appoint four special commissioners, each to oversee two zones of the city.
Bengaluru has been divided into eight zones and each zone has a Joint Commissioner appointed by the BBMP. However, the decision-making power is currently centralised as the work does not move forward without the approval of the BBMP Commissioner.
The Karnataka government’s decision comes after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwathnarayana, MPs from Bengaluru PC Mohan and Rajeev Chandrashekar, and the Chief Minister’s political secretary SR Vishwanath on Friday, the Times of India reported.
Speaking to the media, DyCM Ashwathnarayana said that the special commissioners will have the powers of the BBMP Commissioner and can make administrative decisions for their respective wards. “These Commissioners will be given the independence to make decisions for their zones. It is not just decentralisation of the administration but the decision has been taken to ensure that there is accountability and transparency,” Kannada Prabha quoted him as saying
According to the TOI report, MP Rajeev Chandrashekar proposed the idea of having a special commissioner for each zone. However, the proposal was tweaked because of a shortage of IAS officers. Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar reportedly said eight IAS officers cannot be assigned, the report added.
The ministers and MPs also decided that the solid waste management facilities must be brought to their full capacity at the earliest and also decided to bring down the cost of the compost generated at the composting units from Rs 3,000 per tonne to Rs 1,000 per tonne.
BBMP will also get a new helpline to address people’s grievances with regard to civic issues. This comes after the Karnataka High Court rapped BBMP on its negligence to bring about grievance redressal mechanisms multiple times since 2018. The helpline will be called Bengaluru Sahayavani.