Change of guard at BBMP; new team promises better services

A day after the state government notified the redesignation of senior officials in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), additional chief secretary Gaurav Gupta took office as the civic body's chief commissioner on Thursday.

Gupta, who was appointed the BBMP administrator after the government superseded the civic body in September last year, has become the first chief commissioner as stipulated under the BBMP Act, 2020, which came into force in January 2021. He took charge from N Manjunatha Prasad, the outgoing commissioner.

Rakesh Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, has become the new BBMP administrator in the absence of an elected council whose term ended in September. Fresh elections were put on hold as the government is restructuring the wards as per the new law. He took charge from Gupta, the previous BBMP administrator.

Gupta, the chief commissioner, promised that all ongoing and planned works would continue.

"We will serve the people of Bengaluru better," he said. "Our immediate priority is to contain the surge of the second wave of Covid-19 and enforce government rules."

According to the top official, the BBMP will utilise all available resources to resolve the problems expeditiously. "In the last seven months, I've seen the city's problems at close quarters," he stated.

Surprisingly, Gupta said that he wasn't aware of the Covid cases or clusters in the city schools.

Covid and the monsoon

Singh believes that the monsoon would be a challenge insofar as the pandemic is concerned. "The monsoon is only a few months away, and we must be well-prepared for it," he said. The official hoped that with governmental support, they would be able to solve all problems.