Splitting BBMP will serve no purpose

The move to split the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) into three or more mini-corporations is an exercise in futility. If the intention is to improve the administrative efficiency, dividing the BBMP is not going to achieve the purpose. Bengaluru has grown exponentially in the last few decades, no doubt, but the deterioration in the quality of infrastructure, services and the general standard of living is not just due to the burgeoning city. There are deeper causes that will remain even if the city is divided into three or more corporations. 

Rather than the size of the BBMP, the rampant corruption at all levels of the city’s administration is the chief reason why Bengaluru stumbles from one crisis to another. Take the garbage issue, for example. The city administration, despite being hand-held by the state government, has failed in finding a solution to the problem. The size of the corporation is definitely not among the reasons. Absence of accountability, short-term solutions like shifting the garbage dump from one locality to another are responsible for the garbage mess. Referring to London and its system of administrative burroughs as an example for Bengaluru to follow is the most disingenuous reason given for dividing the city. London has evolved completely differently and cannot be used to justify Bengaluru’s division. Instead, we should look at India and focus on the problems Delhi is facing following the trifurcation of the city’s corporation in 2012. Each of the three new corporations is going its own way – the south corporation managed to get the revenue-earning parts of Delhi while the east and north are perpetually struggling for funds. In the north corporation, there was no money to pay salaries for at least 40 per cent of its officials earlier this year. Demand is reportedly growing for a reunification of the three Delhi municipal corporations. Proponents of Bengaluru’s division must look at such examples closely and decide pragmatically rather than talk of faraway London.  
If the government – and in particular Chief Minister Siddaramaiah under whose leadership the BBMP Bill was brought in the Karnataka Legislature – is really keen on improving Bengaluru’s infrastructure and make it world-class, it must first of all, turn its attention to smashing the nexus between corrupt contractors, officials and politicians that is causing most of the damage. This will require a government with a strong will. Second, it must build a system of accountability that does not spare even the lowest-rung official – every pothole must be accounted for. Only then will Bengaluru see an improvement, not by half-baked ideas that could end up worsening the condition of the already-suffering city.