Greater Bengaluru Authority comes into effect, aim is to offer better governance, says Karnataka Deputy CM

Bengaluru: Recently, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar announced that the five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority had come into effect.

Addressing a press conference at Vidhana Soudha, he said, “September 2 is a special day for Bengaluru. The five city corporations — Bengaluru Central Corporation, Bengaluru North Corporation, Bengaluru South Corporation, Bengaluru East Corporation and Bengaluru West Corporation – have come into effect. The Greater Bengaluru Authority with 75 members has been formed under the leadership of the Chief Minister.”

‘Officials appointed’

“We have appointed officials for the respective corporations. Each of the corporations will have a commissioner, an additional commissioner, a joint commissioner, KAS officials and a chief engineer. We have enhanced the number of zonal offices from 27 to 50 and the sub-zonal offices have been increased from 75 to 150. Each corporation has provision for up to 150 wards. Considering an average number of 100 wards per corporation, the people will have an opportunity to elect 500 new leaders for governance of the city. There would be 50 percent reservation for women,” he explained.

“Taxes will be collected by the new corporations from September 3. The taxes collected would be used solely for the respective corporations. Elections will be held for all the five corporations soon. Wards will be formed with an average population of 30,000 to 40,000. We have made provision to add new areas to East, West and North corporations in the future,” Shivakumar said.

He also added that it was a Congress government decision to form the Greater Bengaluru Authority, for which a committee was formed under the leadership of former chief secretary B S Patil on July 18, 2023.

The committee submitted its draft report on July 12, 2024, which was reviewed by a Joint House Committee. The Bill was passed in the House in March 2025, and a government order was passed on May 15, 2025,” he said, recalling timelines.

Q&A

When asked how the government would manage the finances, as some corporations were financially sound and some weak, he said, “It is not possible to transfer funds from one corporation to another. The government will have to chip in with support to fill the gaps in some corporations.”

Bhoomi Pooja on November 1

Asked what the priority of the Greater Bengaluru Authority would be, Shivakumar said: “The objective is to give good administration. In the past, one had to approach the commissioner for even small things, but now, the GBA will only handle large projects in the city. The commissioners of the respective corporations would be responsible for all functions of the corporation. The administration has been decentralised. We have identified lands for building new offices for the corporations and we will lay the foundations for these offices on November 1. All five corporation offices will be built in the same way and we have instructed officials to come out with a standard architectural design. A prize money of Rs 5 lakh has also been announced for the best design, to incentivise creative thinking. We have invited designs for the GBA logo as well.”

Ward delimitation

On the issue of local elections, the DCM said, “A notification for ward delimitation would be issued and ward reservation notifications would be issued on November 30. Elections would be held thereafter and we have already written to the Election Commission to prepare for the polls. The voters list will also be prepared soon.”

On the issue of whether Bengaluru South district would be added to one of the corporations, Shivakumar said that that will not happen anytime soon. Some of the panchayat areas in Yelahanka and Tumkur Road have, however, become part of the corporations, he added.

Replying to a question on whether the airport in Devanahalli would be included in a corporation, he said a decision on that matter would be taken only after thorough deliberations.