BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad debate merits of Greater Bengaluru authority

Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), which replaced Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in September, is headed by the Chief Minister as its chairman and the Deputy Chief Minister as the vice-chairman.

It also saw the participation of V Ravichandar, a member of the Brand Bengaluru Committee and a prominent voice in the city’s civic engagement, and V R Vachana, Associate Director, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, an organisation that seeks to strengthen urban governance and living standards.

Janaagraha CEO Srikanth Vishwanathan moderated the discussion.

Striking a hopeful note at the outset, Ravichandar said, “At least five commissioners will have decentralised powers at the outset… It brings the elected people closer to constituents. In an earlier life, someone from Mahadevapura was spending three hours to go to Hudson Circle to discuss nothing about Mahadevapura. I would rather that person be in the Mahadevapura council and discuss their issues.”

He also expressed hopes that one of the five corporations could emerge as an outlier in performance and governance, thereby pressuring the others to improve as well.

Speaking on the issue, MLA Rizwan Arshad said, “Each and every citizen of Bangalore needed a change. The earlier system had failed us… It was too centralised without any transparency. Nobody knew what was happening. That system could not fill potholes. With one rain, half of Bangalore would submerge… Earlier, ward committees were chosen by the corporator”.

Arshad added that from the original seven members of these committees, there would now be 14, with seven being chosen by a draw of lots.

Addressing a question on the Authority from a public transport perspective, MP Tejasvi Surya said, “This is less about the structure of GBA and more about the policy intent. As long as we continue our obsession with prioritising infrastructure to cater to vehicles and not people, we will come up with ideas like tunnel roads”.

“What in the GBA empowers the ward committee members, etc? If tomorrow we feel that space in Lalbagh will not be taken away for this, how does the GBA give a voice to people?”

He added that policy intent should be to focus taxpayer expenditure on public transport infrastructure.

Ravichandar also suggested to him that a constitutional amendment could be moved in the context of third-tier government in cities. Surya said, with expert assistance, a private members’ Bill could be drafted to amend the 74th amendment, which deals with municipalities and local bodies, and that he would move it in the next parliamentary session.

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