Will a proposed silver key to the city offer solutions to Bengaluru’s problems? Or will it remain a symbolic gesture?
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will soon be floating a tender to get a “key to the city” crafted in silver. The proposal was first announced in the civic body’s 2018–19 budget. With the State government recently approving the budget, the BBMP is now all set to float tender for making the silver key and baton.
According the proposal, the symbolic key to the city and baton will be handed over to the city’s Mayor when he/she assumes office by the outgoing Mayor. It had also been proposed that the new Commissioner assume office after being handed over a book on the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.
Mayor R. Sampath Raj said many cities in western countries had the tradition of handing over the “key to the city” when the new Mayor assumes charge. “By introducing this tradition, we will be infusing some sanctity to the annual process. The Mayor is the first citizen of the city whose primary role is to safeguard the city and work towards its development,” he said, and added that around ₹15 lakh has been set aside for the making of the silver key and baton.
Ashwin Mahesh, civic activist, said it would be better if the BBMP and the Mayor infused the new tradition with substance, rather than letting it become a symbolic gesture. “At the end of the term, the outgoing Mayor, while handling over the silver key and baton, should make a public statement about the things that need to be taken forward... the things/initiatives that were started and need to be completed. It is only then that the ceremony will have some degree of substance,” he said.
However, Srinivas Alavilli from Citizens for Bengaluru opined that the ceremony would have some meaning only if the local government was empowered and the Mayor was directly elected for a five-year term. “The Mayor currently holds no key to the development of the city; that is the responsibility of the City Development Minister,” he said. He also said that during the recently held conference of Karnataka Mayors, a unanimous resolution was passed to pressure the government to empower the municipal corporations and allow direct election of a Mayor for a five-year term. “The real key will be strengthening of the local body,” he added.
