The three-member Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Restructuring Committee constituted by the State government has recommended a three-tier structure and creation of five smaller corporations.

As per the recommendation, the three-tier structure will be ward committees at tier I, five small corporations as tier II and finally the Greater Bengaluru Authority at the top as tier III. The five small corporations will be based on five zones – Central, North, South, East and West.

Single Mayor

The committee has also recommended that the Bengaluru city have a directly elected Mayor, whose term will be for five years.

The committee, headed by former Chief Secretary BS Patil, retired IAS officer Siddaiah and urban planner V Ravichandar, today submitted its final report to Chief Minister on Monday.

To prepare the report, committee met with over 1,000 stakeholders (elected representatives, senior officials of government agencies, institutional groups, resident welfare associations (RWA), NGOs, Community Based Organisations, etc).

5 Corporations

The five corporation model epitomises a Bengaluru aligned to its historical roots. Corporation 1 is in the Yelahanka area, where Bengaluru’s founder Kempegowda first set up base.

Kempegowda II moved base to Bengaluru and erected four pillars to represent the boundaries of Bengaluru in the 16{+t}{+h} century.

The four Corporations (2-5) have a portion of the city centre and share a pillar each, making a connection with a historical landmark.

“We will need zones to manage a set of wards. We suggest 2 zones per Municipal Corporation each managing about 35-40 wards in a 400 ward city. The Zonal Commissioners will be in charge of the zones to deliver on the decisions of the Municipal Corporation,” the report said.

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) at the top will have the functions of the local planning authority, infrastructure development, integration of para-statal agencies and economic development. GBA is ideally the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area (BMA) also known as the BDA area currently. The committee examined multiple options for the footprint of the GBA and stayed with BBMP 709.5 sq km (will not be sufficient even till 2025), BMA area, Bengaluru Urban District 2190 sq kms (has considerable non-urban settlements), following the growth corridors 1710 sq kms (a bit scattered - does not follow any existing district jurisdictions).

On considering all the alternatives, the BMA footprint (BBMP + BDA) of 1,307 sq km was considered most appropriate for GBA – it already is the declared LPA under the regional structure anchored under the BMRDA.

It is suggested that the proposed GBA be headed initially by the Chief Minister. Since the State has had a major role in the city for decades and there are multiple, complex legacy issues, it is suggested that the State continues to play a role in steering the new arrangement at the Metropolitan city level.

comment COMMENT NOW