The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Council split over `Greater Bangalore'

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Friday, Sep 29, 2006
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Council split over `Greater Bangalore'

Staff Reporter

Corporators say a new law should be enacted before expanding the BMP area Corporators say a new law should be enacted

Bangalore: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution stating that a new act specially to govern the Greater Bangalore area should be put in place of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act.

The resolution said the State Government should take the suggestions of the corporators in the concept of Greater Bangalore and should issue an official notification announcing the formation.

In the discussion held at the BMP Council Meeting, the Congress leaders expressed their apprehensions about the formation of Greater Bangalore. The Janata Dal (Secular) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members appreciated the move.

`Political gimmick'

The former Mayor P.R. Ramesh, Congress corporator from V.V. Puram, called the move towards Greater Bangalore, "a political gimmick." He said that a separate corporation to man the eight urban local bodies should be formed. This process of involving the corporators must happen before their term ended in November, he said.

`Provide facilities'

The lone Janata Dal (Secular) voice against the concept of Greater Bangalore was Kuppuraj, corporator of Austin town. He said the BMP had not yet been able to provide basic amenities to residents of the 27 wards added in 1995.

"Even now, they have not received water," he said. Adding the urban local bodies to the BMP would increase the responsibilities of the civic body when it was finding it difficult to manage the existing area, he said.

Mr. Kuppuraj said the cascading effect of the move needed to be looked into with agricultural lands disappearing and cost of living going up.

Mr. Ramesh said the move to form a Greater Bangalore would benefit only land grabbers, multinational companies and politicians.

M.K. Gunashekar, corporator of Vasantnagar, urged the Government to pay attention to the financial angle. "Will the Central Finance Commission and the State Finance Commission increase grants to the BMP after this move?" he asked.

Welcomed

JD(S) leader and corporator of Yeshwantpur, B.R. Nanjundappa welcomed the move. He said that the newly-added wards had received many benefits only because they had been added to the BMP.

"The pressure from the CMCs is anyway falling on us. We might as well add them to the BMP and provide them adequate facilities," he said. A.H. Basavaraju, BJP leader, said the State Government should be commended for the move.

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