The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Kumaraswamy takes credit for formation of BBMP

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Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Kumaraswamy takes credit for formation of BBMP

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Discussing development: (From left) G.R. Reddy, regional chief, HUDCO; M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, BDA Commissioner; M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Principal Secretary, Finance; Shyam, CCI Leader Forum; and V. Madhu, Managing Director, BMRCL, at a discussion on Karnataka-2020 — A Template for the State’s Progress in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: The Government’s vision for the development of Bangalore has touched new heights in the past 20 months, and the Bangalore Development Authority’s plans to develop group vertical housing for the economically weaker sections is a pioneering concept, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said here on Wednesday.

In his key-note address at the Leadership Forum 2007 of the Centre for Contemporary Studies, which was read out by Labour and Wakfs Minister Iqbal Ansari, Mr. Kumaraswamy listed the achievements of the Government in all sectors — education, infrastructure, housing and social justice.

Quoting the special issue of Newsweek magazine published in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Singapore recently, on “Asian boom towns,” Mr. Kumaraswamy said: “Asia has the fastest rate of urbanisation in human history… We know for sure that cities such as Shanghai, Seoul, Bangalore and Bangkok are booming and busily reinventing themselves.” Mr. Kumaraswamy took credit for creating the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, merging the seven city municipal corporations, one town municipal corporation and 110 villages around Bangalore with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. “My Government has supported the BBMP in its efforts to make Bangalore a world-class city,” he said.

Urban land encroachment is a bottleneck in the development of the city, he conceded, but pointed out that the Government was responding to every problem — it was his Government that had appointed the Legislature Committee to inquire into land encroachment.

The CCI Leadership Forum is a collective of experts in various fields, launched by the CCI.

Its chairman is M.P. Shyam, a director in Lakshmi Vilas Bank and former Chairman of Housing and Urban Development Corporation. Wednesday’s forum featured the BDA Commissioner M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director V. Madhu.

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