Without autonomy, BMLTA turns defunct

The Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA), formed six years ago to address issues pertaining to transport in the City and was responsible for overseeing the Urban Land Transport Initiatives in Bangalore Metropolitan region, seems to have lost its steam over the years.

A testimony to this is the fact that six months have passed and there has been no meeting of the BMLTA, which has the chief secretary as its chairman.

Speaking with Deccan Herald, one of the members of BMLTA, on the condition of anonymity, said, “It started out on a good note and the initial meetings also had good outcomes in terms of proposals and workable suggestions to deal with the traffic situation vis-a-vis the transportation problems. Over the years, the zeal to lead from the front has flagged among the officials,” rued an expert member of the Authority.

The first meeting was held on April 4, 2007, and the Authority came into existence after the suggestion of the National Urban Transport Policy. BMLTA was supposed to meet every two months to review the implementation of the projects by the respective stakeholders.

An official of the Department of Urban Land Transport said that efforts were made regularly to call the meetings and abide by the two-month norm, but due to lack of coordination among different departments and corresponding officials, meetings could not be held.

Also, availability of all the officials on a particular day and time was difficult to be ensured, lamented the DULT official. Some of the projects proposed by the BMLTA include cycle tracks in and around the Central Business District, Samoohayana - community travel facilitator, parking policy for Bangalore, etc.

Another member of BMLTA said, “One of the biggest issues plaguing such a novel concept of bringing all stakeholders on table is that BMLTA lacks autonomy and teeth. First, it should be made a statutory body for it to come up with concrete solutions and then ensure that these are implemented. Only then it can work in a positive direction,” he added.

Other members of BMLTA include the Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home), (Forest, Ecology and Environment), ( Finance), Commissioner, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority Principal Secretary (Public Works) (Transport), (Urban Development),  (Infrastructure Development) Managing Directors of  KSRTC and BMRCL, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City Police, Managing Director, BMTC, BBMP Commissioner, BDA Commissioner, Managing Director, KUID&FC, Representative of South Western Railway besides other experts as its members.­