Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill tabled in Karnataka Assembly
Bengaluru, Jul 23: The Karnataka government on Tuesday tabled the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill which aims at establishing a maximum of 10 city corporations in order to decentralise municipal administration.
The bill moots the founding of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) in which the chief minister will be the ex-officio chairperson, the minister in charge of Bengaluru will be the vice-chairperson and the chief commissioner of the Greater Bengaluru Authority will be the ex-officio member secretary.
Karnataka ministers holding home, urban development, transport and energy portfolios and ministers from Bengaluru will be the ex-officio members.
Apart from them, the mayors of the city corporations, two members from each city corporation nominated by city corporation members will a part of the GBA as members.
ALSO READ: Nirmala Sitharaman has done injustice to Karnataka, says CM Siddaramaiah on budget
Bangalore Development Authority commissioner, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board chairperson, and managing directors of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, as well as Bengaluru police commissioner, chief executive officer of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority, chief town planner and engineer-in-chief of GBA, and the director of Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services will be the ex-officio members.
The commissioners of the city corporations will also be GBA ex-officio members but will not have voting rights.
All members of the House of the People and state Legislative Assembly whose constituencies lie within or substantially within the Greater Bengaluru Area shall be permanent invitees to the Greater Bengaluru Authority and may attend the meeting but will not have the right to vote, according to the bill.
The chief commissioner will be an officer not below the rank of additional chief secretary.
There will be city corporation authorities comprising of a mayor, commissioner, joint commissioners as well as standing committees, zonal committees, ward committees and ‘area sabhas’.
The mayor and the deputy mayor will hold office for a period of five years and it shall be co-terminus with the term of the office of the city corporation.
The BJP opposed the bill in the Karnataka Assembly saying it will divide Bengaluru further and its identity will be lost.
However, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is in charge of Bengaluru Development, dismissed the apprehensions of the opposition leaders as baseless.
He said he has only tabled the bill and it has not been passed yet. He added that he would take everyone along while forming the GBA.
Shivakumar said there will be a meeting on July 27 with all the legislators from Bengaluru and the ministers on this issue to clear all doubts.
BJP leader and former councilor Padmanabha Reddy commented that this bill in fact centralises the municipal corporations instead of decentralising city governance.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
15 IAS officers transferred in Haryana
Chandigarh (PTI): The Haryana government transferred 15 IAS officers with immediate effect on Wednesday.
Among those who have been transferred are Vineet Garg, Chairman, Haryana State Pollution Control Board. He has been posted as the additional chief secretary to the government's printing and stationery department, relieving Raja Shekhar Vundru of the charge, a government order said.
Ajay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram, has been transferred and posted as the deputy principal secretary-II to the chief minister against a newly-created post.
Pankaj Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, has been posted as the principal secretary in the architecture department, relieving Apporva Kumar Singh of the charge.
Saket Kumar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Commissioner and Secretary, Development and Panchayats Department, has been transferred and posted as the commissioner and secretary in the archives department, relieving Shekhar Vidyarthi of the charge.
Mani Ram Sharma, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, has been posted as the secretary in the health department, relieving Rippudaman Singh Dhillon of the charge.
