Census challenge for Greater Bengaluru Governance bill

Bengaluru: Although its sailed through the legislature, immense challenges loom for The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill as the govt must reorganise Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before June 30, a deadline set by the Centre to finalise boundaries of wards in all local bodies in preparation for the national census.
The joint House committee, which scrutinised the bill, had also fixed a 120-day time frame to complete the process of reorganisation and the clock starts ticking from the day the new legislation is enacted.
BJP has opposed the bill and plans to meet governor Taawar Chand Gehlot on Monday to urge him to reject it. Several civil society organisations have also come together to protest the bill. Besides appealing to Gehlot, they also plan to move the high court.
The bill, passed in both Houses Friday, proposes dividing BBMP into up to seven corporations. For now, the govt is reportedly intending to trifurcate the civic agency, but procedural challenges remain. It will have to form a committee to fix boundaries of new corporations based on population and geographical area. It will also have to design a mechanism to ensure equitable revenues for all corporations.
It will require a delimitation exercise to decide on wards but the govt cannot alter boundaries till the Census is completed. However, the Centre's circular has asked states to freeze boundaries of wards by June 30.
"Considering all these factors, it is better to hold BBMP polls now without changes. The govt can implement the GBG bill later," said Abdul Wajid, former BBMP corporator and Congress city working president. Wajid is one of the petitioners seeking BBMP polls at the earliest. The Supreme Court has listed the petition for hearing on Tuesday.
However, the govt is confident of reorganising BBMP by June 30 and is working to hold polls under provisions of the GBG bill. "Although the Centre has set June 30 deadline, creation of new corporations can be done much earlier since the govt has prepared a well-defined roadmap for it," said Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad, who headed the joint House committee that scrutinised the bill. "The Greater Bengaluru concept will help govern the city better. The process should not be derailed because of politically motivated opposition."
Arshad said civil society need not be worried since their suggestions have been incorporated in the bill. However, activists have united under the Bengaluru Town Hall organisation to oppose the bill.
"We will appeal to the governor not to approve the bill. We are consulting lawyers to wage a legal battle," said Prakash Belawadi, who is spearheading the cause.
Organisations like Janagraha, which supports the idea of Greater Bengaluru, are opposing the bill since they say it is flawed in its present form. "We do need a robust GBA on the lines of Greater London Authority, but the current version of the bill will not transform Bengaluru. The current system of BBMP and several parastatals and state departments cannot govern Bengaluru properly," said Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janagraha.