The draft of The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, submitted to the Karnataka government by the Brand Bengaluru Committee, formerly known as the BBMP Restructuring Committee, provides for a three-tier governance of the city, and for the first time, brings all parastatals on one platform. The Bill is expected to be tabled in the upcoming session of the legislature.
It is a modular Bill that provides for multiple corporations, from one to 10, and makes provision for up to 400 wards. The draft Bill doesn’t specify the number of corporations, even as the BBMP Restructuring Committee report submitted in 2015 recommended for five corporations.
The Bill also proposes to create a new body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) at the city level as the apex layer of a three-tier governance structure, chaired by the Chief Minister. Multiple municipal corporations and ward committees will form the second and third tier in this model.
Co-chaired by the Bengaluru Development Minister, will have a footprint of around 1,400 sqkm, mostly congruous with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area.
Will this Bill make Bengaluru’s governance more people friendly? Will it learn from the lessons from Delhi? What are the challenges the ruling Congress government could face? The Hindu’s Aditya Bharadwaj and HS Shreyas discuss.
Video and production: Ravichandran N.
