Will 7 cousins be merged with BCC?

Will 7 cousins be merged with BCC?
The Times of India

Bangalore: It will be one merger that could iron out civic woes of the city. The seven neglected CMCs are likely to be merged with the BCC if the current loud thinking translates into action.

The loud thinking doing the rounds in the Urban Development Department, about the twain merging, has accelerated in the last month simply because of the pathetic infrastructure in the CMC areas. More so when it reared its ugly face during the recent deluge. “The CMCs do not have even bare minimum wherewithal, even the people at the helm like corporators and engineers are just not qualified. It will be good for Bangalore if the CMCs are merged with the BCC because 50 per cent of migrants to the city stay in these areas. Even people who visit Bangalore by road have to enter via any of the CMC roads, the quality of which has been lamented for long,’’ explain urban development sources.

Of the CMCs — Bommanahalli, Mahadevpura, K R Puram, Yelahanka, Byatarayanapura — it is Bommanahalli which catalysed the need for merging with the BCC.

“It will be fantastic insofar as handling civic issues because of the flow of money. CMCs, for long, have been functioning without financial resources.”
“Earlier, there were funds from ‘holder khata’ but even that was banned by the government in 2003, after detecting irregularities in a particular municipality,’’ inform sources.

Even if officials are gung-ho about the pending proposal, a major hitch stands to nullify the entire need-of-the-hour exercise — political will. Says CMC Bommanahalli commissioner Uday Shankar: “Right from the day the CMCs are merged with the BCC, corporators at the CMCs cannot continue as elected representatives. Bommanahalli alone has 31 corporators. They might not welcome the idea of elections again, there is independence at stake.’’

IN A NUTSHELL THE PROPOSAL

Merge the CMCs with the BCC

THE ADVANTAGE

Funds will flow into the municipalities, civic works like roads, drainage system and healthcare, would be strengthened

THE HITCH

Political will should be strong to actually do this. Because corporators at the CMCs can’t continue as elected representatives, entailing need for fresh elections.