At 1st GBA meet, CM Siddaramaiah approves master plan preparation for Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The inaugural meeting of the newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday saw the approval for preparing a Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) for the city, which has been long overdue.

The nearly three-hour-long meeting, mostly attended by Congress legislators amid a boycott by BJP legislators who alleged a violation of protocol over invites to members, saw the unanimous approval of at least nine key proposals.

With the approval for the preparation of the master plan, the GBA will act as a primary planning body of the city, a power so far held by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

Along with this, the GBA will also have the authority to approve development plans, layouts and changes in land use.

While the GBA will control an area of 719 square kilometres, the BDA will continue to retain planning powers for about 500 square kilometres — areas considered less significant due to limited development.

While the chief minister is expected to chair the 75-member committee meeting once every three months, he approved the formation of an executive committee, which will be headed by the Bengaluru Development Minister and will meet monthly.

Apart from planning powers, the GBA will also take charge of handling files related to transferable development rights (TDR), a responsibility that was previously held by the BDA.

“These decisions were approved in the CM-led meeting today,” Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar told reporters. Directions were also issued to all five newly carved corporations to submit their draft annual budgets to the GBA for approval. The meeting emphasised that each corporation must be financially independent.

Tentatively, Bengaluru East is expected to generate the highest revenue (Rs 912 crore), while the North Corporation will have the lowest (Rs 543 crore). The remaining corporations are expected to have the following tentative budget sizes: South — Rs 733 crore, Central — Rs 659 crore, and West — Rs 580 crore.

The committee also directed parastatal agencies — such as BESCOM, BWSSB, BMTC, Bengaluru Traffic Police, and the Fire Department — to appoint a point of contact at each of the five corporation levels and across ten zones for better coordination. The GBA will also establish a central coordination committee to enhance cooperation between the authority and the corporations.