The former mayors have drawn up a proposal — Bangalore Vision 2050 — which they will soon submit to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The plan envisages for the city a holistic and comprehensive growth.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, the former Mayor P.R. Ramesh claimed that the city’s limits i.e. areas governed by the corporation, had been extended in 1983, 1996 and in 2007 by non-Congress governments. But improving civic amenities in the newly added areas was not given priority. “In 2007, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) government came out with the Revised Master Plan 2015. However, none of the proposed projects or schemes has been implemented. The city limits were increased for purely political reasons and to benefit land sharks,” he alleged.
According to him, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike should be trifurcated. The city should have a special legislation such as the Act governing the Mumbai corporation. “The BBMP and seven other city corporations across the State are governed by the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, which is outdated,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh claimed the city contributed around Rs. 70,000 crore revenue to the exchequers of the Centre and the State. At least 10 per cent of this should be set aside for developing the infrastructure in the city, he said.
Mr. Ramesh underscored the importance of the coordination between the different stakeholders and civic agencies, including the traffic police, the Transport Department, BBMP, Bescom and BWSSB.
The former mayors J. Huchappa and K.H.N. Simha, and the former councillors Pradeep Reddy, Kupparaju and Sathya Narayan were present.
