Who will bail out CMCs?

Stand up and deliver
TIMES DEBATE: WHO WILL BAIL OUT CMCs?
The Times of India


It rained 60 mm of misery in the city municipal council areas on Monday: 7-feet deep water, houses flooded, vehicles damaged, drains choked, and ironically no drinking water.

Each time it rains, this is the scenario. Who is responsible for this mess? Why have the CMCs not been able to take care of the needs of the residents? Are the funds inadequate? What about taxes being collected from the residents? Where does it go? Are there no plans to set things right? When will action take place? Who will plug the loopholes? What are the long-term solutions?

CMC commissioners say they have no funds, government blames the land sharks, and residents don’t know where to go. The Times of India asks key players and experts to dissect the problem and suggest remedies. In their own words... Blame haphazard growth
All the problems that the CMCs are facing boils down to one cause: improper planning from the day of inception. CMCs are seeing tremendous growth but this growth has been haphazard. There are unauthorised layouts, illegal encroachments on nalas, streams — there seems to be no regulation at all.

The waterways are choked because there has been no desilting and deweeding. While in some places storm water drains have been completely blocked, in other areas their capacity has reduced because of dumped solid waste.

Carrying out checks is not a one-time exercise. Officials need to maintain the situation, vigilance officers need to visit their wards regularly, illegal construction needs to be cut. At the same time, the public and local representatives too play an important role — civic discipline needs to be instilled in all. After all, it’s a matter of prevention, and doing everything possible to avoid crisis. — Municipal administration director B P Kaniram

I don’t have major say

An elected body, the standing committee, takes decisions on vital issues governing the CMC. The general administration comes under the jurisdiction of the commissioner. The priority issues are decided by standing committee.

The government is finally giving us funds under special packages and we are hoping the pace of work can be speeded up. There are in-built problems that we have to grapple with; there is still a panchayat kind of system but the civic growth is very urban in nature. Two months ago I went to a particular ward to clear some encroachments near a drain. The residents protested and sent us away.
Thanks to the TOI report, our engineers started desilting work immediately. They are removing drain covers, explaining to people why they need to clear encroachments on drains. — Bommanahalli CMC commissioner Uday Shankar

Not my jurisdiction

Even though I am the minister incharge of municipal administration overlooking the urban local bodies (ULBs), these CMCs around Bangalore are under the chief minister. Actually they come under the directorate of municipal administration and urban development department.

Routinely, the finance department releases funds to the CMCs through the urban development department. Their main problem is lack of infrastructure. A comprehensive masterplan has to be drawn up to develop these ULBS. — Municipal administration minister S R Morey


Think long-term One, the CMCs/TMCs have not been in existence for long — only the past 15 years or so. They were created with the intention of creating better governance in these areas. It is another matter that the aim has not worked out. Two, mismatch between revenue and infrastructural requirements is the major problem. Sources of revenue vary from CMC to CMC. They may be getting money from the taxes they collect, but obviously, that is not enough to lay roads and drainage and provide water. Projects like the one to supply Cauvery water (and provide roads/drainage) will help.

Three, institutional capabilities. Do they have enough trained engineers and other staff ? How are the commissioners selected? Being in the shadow of the bigger and more visible BCC, this aspect has been ignored. So, even if they have the money, the CMCs/TMCs cannot deliver the goods.

And four, need for the creation of an overall metropolitan authority, which cuts across all jurisdictions.

Such an agency must do the long-term, large-scale planning and attract the investment that is required. But local issues have to be the responsibility of the respective municipalities. — Former chief secretary A Ravindra