New govt’s choices: Transfer BMP officials, or supersede

New govt’s choices: Transfer BMP officials, or supersede
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The non-Congress coalition under the leadership of H D Kumaraswamy might want its own officials at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) but that will be more difficult than superseding the civic body, which has just 10 months of its tenure left.

Though replacing the present commissioner Jothiramalingam is an option, much of the time would be wasted before the new incumbent familiarises himself with the goings-on.

On the other hand the tough man in charge of BMP finances, additional commissioner P K Sreehari, is also difficult to replace.

Sreehari, who has spent six years at the BMP, had introduced many financial reforms which have reduced fiscal indiscipline and no newcomer can develop the kind of insight needed to take the reforms further.

Progressive reforms now have become mandatory for all infrastructure projects funded by the centre and the World Bank.

Though Sreehari was appointed by the S M Krishna government, his expertise in managing public finance have been lauded even by the opposition.

And Jothiramalingam is equally popular among leaders of all political parties.

With these top officials at the helm, the government would face political difficulty in managing a BMP ruled by the opposition Congress.

How can the government let the opposition take political mileage with BMP works? The only option left is to terminate the political executive at the BMP so that the government is directly accountable.

And the BMP offers more than enough grounds for its supercession. On the political executive front, the mayor has failed to ensure complete declaration of assets by the councillors, repeated warnings from the Raj Bhavan notwithstanding.

She also had not been democratic in electing the standing committees. In a full house last month, mayor Mumtaz Begum denied the nomination by a JD-S councillor Devadas without even verifying it.

Last week, the nominations to the chairmanship of Standing Committee on town planning were proposed by opposition councillors.

To support a case against the BMP, the audit reports have been ignored by the Standing Committees for last four years.

Though the government auditors have pointed out lapses in accounts to the tune of Rs 63 crore, no action was taken.

And the High Court had indicted the BMP for bad workmanship, which the civic body has failed to defend or to punish the errant officials.

That makes it easier for the government to dissolve the BMP council and take full control of the civic body for the next ten months.

This would enable the government to use the available bureaucratic expertise at the BMP and produce results without letting the Congress take any credit for it, said a BJP leader.