Govt brings all CMCs under BMP

Govt brings all CMCs under BMP
Deccan Herald

An emergency meeting of the state Cabinet on Friday decided to bring all the seven CMCs around Bangalore under the jurisdiction of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) in order to upgrade infrastructure facilities on the City outskirts and to prevent formation of unauthorised layouts.

The decision, which also aims at improving tax collection on the city outskirts and ensure planned growth, comes close on the heels of the heavy rain exposing the pathetic infrastructure in the municipal areas around Bangalore which are the worst-hit.

Information Minister B Shivaram said a notification in this regard would be issued after discussing the matter further at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

The decision had been taken to improve infrastructure facilities on the outskirts of Bangalore, especially those in the slums, and to prepare a blueprint for the entire Bangalore (including the municipal areas) for future development of infrastructure.

The BMP and CMC areas are likely to be classified as Bangalore-1 and Bangalore-2 respectively for taxation purposes, the minister said.

JD (S) leader H D Deve Gowda on Thursday placed such a demand before the government while alleging that the CMCs around Bangalore had misused the funds earmarked for upgrading the infrastructure facilities. He had even cited the revenue scam in these CMCs exposed by the Lokayukta.

The proposal for forming a Greater Bangalore by including the CMCs in the BMP had been discussed when Mr S M Krishna was the chief minister. The Cabinet is understood to have noted that Bangalore’s outskirts had 450 unauthorised layouts and 3,500 acres of government land had been encroached upon. Several ministers demanded stringent action in this regard.