Make Bengaluru Greater...By Cutting Bureaucratic Rigmarole

Bengaluru, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, is about to undergo a major overhaul in city governance.

- Ramu Patil

By initiating the process to implement the contentious Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA), the Siddaramaiah government has taken upon itself the monumental task of changing the way the state capital is governed and, more importantly, the responsibility to its direct supervision.

The Act, which got the Governor's assent earlier this week, may have to clear some more hurdles before it is fully set in motion to bring in the intended changes, as the opposition and some resident groups plan to take up a legal fight. But, the real challenge for the government would be to implement the Act in letter and spirit to fulfill its stated objective—to improve the quality of life of all citizens by instituting a decentralized, participative, efficient and equitable governance framework.

Over the next few weeks and months, the government's actions will reflect its resolve in that direction. The failure to take the right measures might otherwise suggest that it was merely a move to usurp the powers of urban local bodies by weakening them, or an attempt to delay the local bodies elections in the state capital. There should not be any further delay in holding the elections, though it may take some time to have new corporations.