Panel bats for strong ward committees

A committee constituted by the State Congress for studying the reorganisation of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has offered three options ranging from strengthening the zones to increasing the municipal corporations to three or five.

The 10-member committee, headed by former MP B L Shankar, submitted its report to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara on Thursday. In the report, the committee has offered three options. The first one is to retain the existing structure of the BBMP and strengthen the zones.

The second recommendation is to have three municipal corporations as suggested by the District In-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy and the third option is to constitute five municipal corporations namely, East, West, North, South and Central as suggested by the B S Patil Committee.

Whatever the arrangement is, the committee’s key emphasis is on more people’s participation by way of strengthening the ward committees with adequate space for the public. It has also suggested more powers to the Greater Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee as mentioned in the 74th Amendment of the Indian constitution.