Unpeeling the layers

When something goes wrong in a neighbourhood, who does one call? Who is that elected people’s representative that one goes to? Most of us may think of the local MLA or MP. Rarely do we think of the Councillor or as we call it, the Corporator.

In 1992, the Parliament enacted the 73rd (Panchayati Raj) and the 74th (Urban Local Bodies) Constitutional Amendment. This enabled the devolution of powers from the state governments to local governments. The intent of this was to ensure that functions like building and maintenance of roads, health, water and electricity supply would be the responsibility of the local government. This meant that citizens could voice their needs to their elected representative for effective provision of services. While it is by many measures insufficient, the 12th Schedule of the 74th Amendment outlines the 18 functions that Urban Local Body (ULB) needs to carry out. However, in many states including Karnataka, even these responsibilities have not been fully devolved to the ULB.

Bengaluru is administered by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. BBMP is supervised by the Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Dept of the Karnataka Government.

Bengaluru is a classic example where the state government has not sufficiently devolved the authority and responsibility of administering the city to BBMP. Key services like water and sewerage, electricity and public transport do not come under its ambit. So, while BBMP is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the roads, it is not responsible for the water supply, sewerage and electrical lines laid under/over the road. Neither does it have any coordination with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) which runs the city bus service. The Namma Metro is run by the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) which reports to the State Government. In addition, BBMP does not have planning powers which is vested with the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) which in itself is against the law. Planning is a function that is supposed to be done by the Metropolitan Planning Committee that has never been convened till date.

The power structure within the BBMP itself is flawed. BBMP is divided into wards and each ward is represented by a councillor elected for a 5-year term by the people much like the state and union legislatures. The councillors in turn elect a mayor. The mayor used to have a term of 1 year which was then increased to 2years and 6 months. However, unlike the state and union governments, the bureaucracy headed by the Commissioner (who in turn is an IAS officer appointed by the state government) is not necessarily in a reporting relationship to the mayor. In fact, most of the executive functions rest with the commissioner. This effectively leaves the elected representatives at the mercy of the state government.

The last election to BBMP took place in 2015. Their term concluded in Sept 2020. Since then, there have been various discussions of splitting the BBMP into different corporations. Successive state governments have been vacillating on the elections in the name of re-structuring the corporation.

As I write this today (24th July 2024), the Greater Bengaluru Authority Bill has been tabled in the State Assembly. In the next blog, we will delve into the proposed bill.


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