'BBMP corporators lack administrative powers'

Elected representatives in the BBMP Council do not have administrative powers to take up development works in their wards, said former minister Leeladevi R Prasad on Monday.

Addressing women corporators at an event ‘Woman Leaders for a Better Tomorrow,’ organised B PAC, Leeladevi said that there is a need to amend the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, to ensure corporators have administrative powers to address the problems in their wards.

Leeladevi was among the first corporators of the erstwhile Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP). In 1956, she, along with six women were elected to the body. Recalling her days as a corporator, Leeladevi said that she once disguised herself as an ‘ayaah’ to find out how milk and bread allotted to children were distributed. “ I caught violators red-handed and suspended them,” she said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Hemalatha Gopaliah said that there were numerous complaints that husbands of woman corporators answer their phone calls. “Women corporators must ensure that this does not happen. As women corporators are aware of the problems of their ward, they have to come forward to address them,” she added. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, president, BPAC, said that Bengaluru was once a beautiful City but, now, it has now turned into a ‘garbage City’.

“Life has become unbearable in Bengaluru now. It has become unsafe for women to venture out after sunset. It has become very difficult to commute and even walk on footpaths. We have bring in a 'no litter policy' to ensure citizens do not throw garbage wherever they wish,” she added.

Green plaques
Historian Suresh Moona urged women corporators to erect ‘green plaques’ around the City on the lines of the ‘blue plaques’ of London. Like in London, where little details about the monuments are written and placed in public places, a similar trend can be followed in Bengaluru.