The case for 400 BBMP wards

In its final report submitted in 2015, the BBMP Restructuring Committee had recommended that the number of wards be expanded to 400. The committee’s contention was based on these factors:

The existing 198 wards were formed on the basis of the 2001 census. The city’s population grew by 44.6 per cent during the decade 2001-11, faster than any other city of its comparable class in the world.

While the population in the inner city increased by about 18 per cent, the growth in the outer periphery was way beyond 100 per cent.

Twenty-one wards had a population of 30,000 plus and 43 had more than 50,000 people.

By 2015, the population of the largest BBMP ward grew from 95,368 in 2011 to more than 1.1 lakh. The panel wanted the ward size to be around 20,000 people in the growth areas and 30,000 in the city’s core areas.

Finding the single BBMP model unsustainable, the restructuring panel had also recommended that the Palike be split into five corporations, and brought under a Greater Bengaluru Authority. Also suggested was a three-tier system to rejig the city’s governance system.

A directly elected Mayor for each of the five corporations was another key recommendation. The Mayor was to have a five-year term.