BBMP may propose increasing number of zones to 12

Amid talks over dividing Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) into five smaller corporations, the civic body is working on a proposal to increase the number of zones from the present eight to twelve. The draft is being prepared on the basis of BBMP Act 2020, which allows a maximum of 15 zones and up to 250 wards.

BBMP’s Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath told DH the new BBMP Act allows increasing the number of zones. “We are readying the proposal. The final number of zones has not been decided yet,” he said. Sources in the BBMP said they plan to increase the number of zones to 12, which breaks down to around 20 wards per zone.

When the state government increased the number of BBMP wards from 198 to 243 in July last year, it neither increased the number of zones nor did it change their boundaries. Senior BBMP officials say the zones are being increased to ensure uniform distribution of wards.

More zones

By increasing the number of zones, the BBMP believes the administration will come closer to citizens. “At the moment, special commissioners holding various posts in the BBMP are given additional charge as zonal commissioners. In future, zonal commissioners will be given independent charge so that they become more accessible to people,” a senior BBMP official said.

The BBMP has, however, not taken any steps to further modify the newly-carved 243 wards as it has not received any directions from the state government.

At an internal meeting held by the Congress party, some MLAs suggested that the government retain wards in the core area (within the Outer Ring Road) according to the old list (of 198 wards) since there has not been a big population growth.

They also insisted that constituencies like Jayanagar, Shivajinagar and Chamarajpet – which lost one ward each in the recent delimitation exercise conducted by the BJP-led government – be brought back. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reportedly told the delegation that he would consult the Advocate General on revising the delimited wards.

Last week, eight-term MLA Ramalinga Reddy told DH that the Congress is ready to go for BBMP polls with 243 wards. The party, sources said, may introduce different reservation of wards to corner the BJP.