Government faces familiar roadblocks in BBMP restructuring plan

The state government may be keen on restructuring the BBMP by splitting it into multiple corporations, but it faces hurdles like it did to a similar plan nine years ago.

Bengaluru: The state government may be keen on restructuring the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by splitting it into multiple corporations, but it faces hurdles like it did to a similar plan nine years ago.

In 2015, the Siddaramaiah government tabled a similar proposal to splinter the civic body, but it fizzled out in the face of an absent majority in the Legislative Council and a central government helmed by the Opposition BJP.

In April 2015, weeks before the BBMP council’s term was to end, the Congress government superseded the municipal body by proposing its trifurcation. While the legislation sailed through the Assembly, it stalled in the Legislative Council in July that year.

The government passed the legislation in the Assembly for the second time in the same month, but the then Governor Vajubhai Vala, who must give his assent to the piece of legislation, referred it to the Centre. The Union Government directed the state to first hold the BBMP elections and allow the elected body to decide on the bifurcation plan.

The legislation went into cold storage post the BBMP elections that saw the Congress-JD(S) alliance hold the reins for four years.

The situation is no better for the incumbent Congress dispensation.

Although the ruling party has an absolute majority in the Assembly like in 2015, the BJP and the JD(S) will reject the bill in the Legislative Council, where they have three seats more than the Congress.

A veteran policymaker informed DH that Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot might withhold assent if the bill appears to be a tactic to delay the BBMP elections, which have already been postponed by nearly four years.

"Most likely, the bill will be referred to the Centre, and we might not hear about it again," the policymaker added.

Proposed to trifurcate the BBMP, the fresh draft, called the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill 2024, prescribed an apex body that brings together parastatals such as the BWSSB, the BMTC, the BMRCL, and the traffic police, among others, under one roof.

The 2024 draft also proposed expanding the corporation limits by 250 square kilometres and up to 400 wards.