Karnataka Deputy CM proposes slew of measures to redevelop Bengaluru. Here’s more…

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has said the division of BBMP would be completed by September 15 and the Greater Bengaluru Authority would be formed after that.

Addressing a press conference after holding a meeting on the Greater Bengaluru Authority recently, he said, “We will discuss this with the Leader of the Opposition and other MLAs. A final decision will be taken after considering everyone’s opinion and placing it before the Cabinet.”

“We have issued a notification to change BBMP into Greater Bengaluru Authority from May 15. We have to set up the new corporations within 120 days. We will take feedback from the MLAs on the number of corporations and their contours,” the DCM said.

Shivakumar said: “We have decided to evict all street vendors from the pavements. Till now, 27,665 street vendors have registered with the BBMP and we will be issuing them push carts. The registered vendors have to do business in designated areas. As many as 3,755 vendors have sought push carts. Some vendors are trying to put pressure on us through MLAs, but we can’t allow that as per the law. We will carry out the eviction in phases even if we are not able to do it all at once.”

“We have discussed the road widening with MLAs. We will issue TDRs to land owners wherever the MLAs recommend land acquisition. Land owners can discuss acquisition and compensation with the MLAs. We have identified areas for development of 300 km of roads along the buffer zones of storm water drains. Many MLAs have said that optical fibre cables have been laid through the sewage lines. I have instructed the BBMP to remove such cables. We have also instructed desilting of sewage lines,” he added.

The DCM said: “We have instructed the officials to convert 25 lakh khatas into e-khatas. We have completed digitisation of 5 lakh khatas till now. We are trying to bring transparency in property registration and tax collection. This initiative has got the national e-governance award,” he noted.

Sky deck

Shivakumar said: “We had decided to build the sky deck in Hemmigepura but it may not be possible as it should be at least 20 km from the airport. Hence, we have decided to build the sky deck in Kempe Gowda layout. We have received a lot of complaints about old vehicles being abandoned and parked on roadsides, and we have instructed the police to create a dumping yard for such vehicles in 100 acres of land. Any vehicle which is parked on the road for more than 21 days can be considered abandoned and can be seized by the government and auctioned.

“We will merge the service roads and main roads wherever metro work is going on to ease traffic movement. This initiative will be taken up in 40-50 km of arterial roads. MLAs have agreed to this move,” he added.