The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has faced the ignominy of bad administration resulting in poor civic amenities in different parts of the city.
To improve the quality of life, the civic body is contemplating increasing the number of zones from the current eight to 10.
The proposal to reorganise the zones is currently before the Standing Committee for Personnel and Administrative Reforms.
As per the proposal, the boundaries of neither Assembly constituencies nor wards will be changed. They will, however, be redistributed among the redrawn 10 zones.
BBMP commissioner G. Kumar Naik said that the proposal has been put up following a suggestion by the Chief Minister.
“The reorganisation of the zones does not meddle with the law and it does not have any bearing on the recommendations made by the BBMP Restructuring Committee. The increase in the number of zones will help in equitable distribution of work and better decentralisation of powers, which will only help improve delivery of service, thereby bringing administration closer to the citizens,” he added.
Sources claimed that the proposed reorganisation of zones has ensured that the political boundaries (that of Assembly constituencies and wards) are not split across two zones.
They added that a majority of the Assembly constituencies come under a clear zone. This also ensures administrative efficiency apart from being citizen friendly, as the distance travelled to the zonal office is greatly reduced.
“Once the proposal is approved by the Standing Committee and the council, a good next step will be to consider decentralisation through empowered zonal committees. This way, the BBMP will be able to bring the local political leadership and administrative mechanism closer to citizens to better address their concerns,” said V. Ravichandar, civic expert.
Rajanna, chairperson of the Standing Committee for Personnel and Administrative Reforms, confirmed that the committee had received the proposal around four days ago.
He said that the committee would recommend that each zone be headed by an IAS officer. “The decision on the proposal will be taken during the committee meeting next week,” he added.
