50 percent of corporators in Greater Bengaluru Authority will be women: Deputy CM

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar recently said 50 percent of the tickets in the elections to the five corporations of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) would be given to women.

Participating in a recent interaction on the development of the city at Mount Carmel College, he said, “Half the corporators in all five corporations under the GBA will be women.”

Asked why the GBA was brought in Bengaluru now, he said, “Urbanisation is a challenge for any city or country. People are migrating to Bengaluru in large numbers seeking education, employment and a better life. The population of Bengaluru, which was around 70 lakh during S M Krishna’s time, is now 1.4 crore. “Kempe Gowda built Bengaluru by accommodating all communities to live and do business. But it is not a planned city today and is facing many challenges such as traffic, garbage and drinking water shortage. The GBA has been formed to bring in coordination and resolve these challenges. Bengaluru’s development is impossible until citizens and officials work in tandem.”

“Bengaluru earlier had 198 wards which were managed by one Commissioner. The city’s population will reach 2 crore in the next 10-15 years. We have formed five corporations with 368 wards in order to decentralise the administration,” he noted.

Asked how the GBA would bring in coordination between various departments and agencies, he said, “We want a green and sustainable Bengaluru. There are 2-3 vehicles per household, most of which are parked on the roads. While one section views Bengaluru as a global city, the other doesn’t have any idea of the same. There are people who dump garbage anywhere and everywhere. What can the government do? Construction debris is being dumped everywhere, by trucks, and we have instructed officials to take strict action against owners of such vehicles. Efforts are being made to fix the garbage issue but the garbage mafia is doing everything to derail this. They have filed a PIL to stop us from taking steps to solve the garbage issue.”

When asked if any steps had been taken to obtain feedback from citizens, the DCM said, “Ward committees will be set up in all 368 wards. People from all sections of society would be part of the ward committees. These committees will be in touch with the officials. People are the taxpayers and their interest is paramount.”

On the issue of transparency in administration, he said, “We have taken many steps to contain corruption and bring in transparency. People had to run from pillar to post to get their building plans approved, but now we have introduced self-declaration scheme called ‘Nambike Nakshe’. We had announced a self-declaration scheme for property tax, but people misused it in collusion with officials. Hence, we are mapping all properties in Bengaluru in order to streamline property tax. We are now collecting property tax of around Rs 7,000 crore while Delhi collects only 2,000 crore.”

On the issue of potholes plaguing the city, Shivakumar said, “We have to listen to the criticisms of the people. Is there any other city in India which allows citizens to identify and report potholes? We do that in Bengaluru. I am committed to leaving behind a legacy. It may not be visible right now, but people will remember me 10-15 years down the line.”

On the opposition to a tunnel road, the Deputy CM said, “What is the alternative we have? We can introduce public transport, but, honestly speaking, will everyone travel by public transport? A lot of roads are being added to the city and they will ease traffic.”

“We are working on a 104-km Bengaluru Business Corridor and a 40-km tunnel road. If there is so much opposition, why are they doing similar projects in Mumbai? The BJP was in office before us, but they did very little for the city. Not even a single mega project was taken up,” he retorted.