Dilemma over BBMP delimitation: Add villages or redraw existing wards?

Authorities are facing a big dilemma over the ward delimitation mandated by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act, 2020. While MLAs want dozens of villages (58 at the last count) added to the BBMP limits, a central government directive has put an embargo on extending the city's boundaries.

For the uninitiated, the law notified in January has brought in a number of changes to the city's governance structure. Among these is raising the number of wards from the existing 198 to 243.

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MLAs representing the outlying areas (Yelahanka, Bengaluru South, Mahadevapura and Yeshwantpur) want the number of wards increased by adding villages in their constituencies to the city limits. Doing so would create better civic amenities in these villages which are already home to gated communities, large apartment complexes and sprawling housing colonies, they argue. The MLAs expect a favourable response from the state government.

The problem

The idea may sound good but there's a big problem. The central government has reportedly put an embargo on adding or deleting areas to the city limits after December 31, 2020. "There have been requests and proposals but it's pretty clear that the BBMP boundaries cannot be expanded," said a senior official in the Urban Development Department.

The idea of increasing the number of wards was suggested last year by a joint committee of the state legislature, headed by the BJP's CV Raman Nagar MLA S Raghu.

In October, the state government set up a committee under the-then BBMP commissioner, N Manjunatha Prasad, to decide on the ward delimitation. Other members of the committee were Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Commissioner H R Mahadev and BBMP Special Commissioner (Revenue), Dr Basavaraju S.

Surprisingly, the delimitation committee hasn't held a single meeting since its formation. And its members have refused to comment on the proposals for adding the villages. Basavaraju merely says that the committee is looking into the matter and that a sub-committee has been formed specifically to study the proposals and objections on adding the villages.

Sources in the committee say there have been proposals for adding 36 that fall under Mahadevapura and Bengaluru South assembly constituencies to the city limits (see the table).

"The first phase of the delimitation is to finalise the new areas that are to be added to the city limits. Once that is done, it would be easier to organise the 243 wards,” a member of the committee said. The population will be evenly distributed among all the 243 wards with each ward expected to have 43,000 residents on average.

What the House panel said

A member of the legislature committee, however, said that the delimitation committee had been asked to "only convert the existing 198 wards into 243 wards" by keeping in mind the population density and the geographical area.

Presently, smaller wards are located in the core areas while the bigger ones are there in the outskirts, resulting in a skewed distribution of both the population and the area, the member explained. "We have asked them to consider these aspects and redraw the wards in a balanced manner," the member added.

Villages that are sought to be added to BBMP

Mahadevapura

Halanayakanahalli, Hadu Siddapura, Chikkanayakanahalli, Kodathi, Soolikunte, Soolanakunte Colony, Mallur, Kachamaranahalli, Valepura, Bidarahalli, Maregondanahalli, Kittaganooru, Halehalli, Kurudu Sonnappanahalli, Seegehalli, K Dommasandra, Kannamangala, Kaaji Sonnenahalli, Avalahalli, Chimmasandra and Veerenahalli

Total: 21

Yelahanka

Singanayakanahalli, Avalahalli, Gantiganahalli, Ramagondanahalli, Vaderahalli, Chikkabidarakallu, Srikantapura and Thotada Guddadahalli

Total: 8

Yeshwantpur

Mallasandra, Uttarahalli Manavarthe Kaval, H Gollahalli, Doddabele, Rachanamadu, Katanayakanapura, Nagegowdanapalya, Kodigehalli, Kannalli, Manganahalli, Chikkagollarahatti, Soolikere and Kumbalagodu

Total: 13

Bengaluru South

Doddathoguru, Shikaripalya, Konappana Agrahara, Govindashettypalya, Dodda Nagamangala, Bettadasanapura, Mylasandra, Vittasandra, Hommadevanahalli, CK Palya, Lakshmipura, Bilvaradahalli, Amruthnagar, Kulumepalya, Kannayakana Agrahara and Shyanuboganahalli

Total: 16