The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : House passes Bill raising BBMP wards to 150

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 13, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

House passes Bill raising BBMP wards to 150

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill 2006 raising the number of wards in the newly created Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to 150.

Piloting the Bill, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said a committee had been constituted to determine the term and powers of the Mayor.

Congress members, led by Leader of the Opposition N. Dharam Singh, staged a walkout protesting against the unsatisfactory reply by the Chief Minister to their questions.

The former Ministers V. Somanna, A. Krishnappa, R. Ramalinga Reddy and R. Roshan Baig and M.R. Seetaram and N.L.Narendra Babu criticised the Government for hastily increasing the number of wards without allocating funds for creating the infrastructure.

Mr. Dharam Singh called for creating a Bangalore metropolitan corporation on the lines of the Delhi Metropolitan Corporation incorporating civic agencies such as BWSSB, BDA and the slum clearance board.

In response to Mr. Krishnappa's criticism, the Chief Minister said that people were facing hardships due to the haphazard manner in which layouts were allowed during the Congress rule. He also told Mr. Dharam Singh that the metro rail project and flyovers would be completed as per schedule. Infrastructure work had already started under the Rs. 22,400-crore JNNURM project in Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad and other towns.

Allaying fears over water supply to Bangalore, he said that work on a Rs. 4,500-crore drinking water supply project had commenced.

The Chief Minister said that Rs. 600 crore had been set apart in the BBMP budget for developing areas coming under the five special zones in the 50 new wards. He said that 114 persons had responded to the notice on expanding Bangalore out of whom 80 favoured it. While 32 village panchayats surrounding Bangalore had supported the move apart from the six CMCs and one TMC, eight village panchayats had opposed it as their term was not over.

Denying criticism that investors were shifting to other states, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that Bangalore was still a favourite destination.

Ports Bill

The House also passed the Karnataka Ports (Landing and Transportation Charges) (Amendment) Bill 2007. It was moved by H.D. Revanna, Minister for Public Works and Energy.

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