Janaagraha gives Greater Bengaluru Governance Act the thumbs down

BENGALURU: The recently approved Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 (GBGA), got a score of 3.4 on 10 from Janaagraha, a civil society group, on effective governance, said the report released on Tuesday. For the assessment, Janaagraha, compared the GBGA with the Brand Bengaluru Committee- GBG Bill, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act 202, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. The teams analysed the GBGA on 33 parameters and noted that it scored barely half as effective as the other Acts and bills. They noted that the GBGA makes some advances in municipal finance and staffing, but fails on critical aspects of planning, political leadership and citizen participation. They also chalked out a roadmap for the government to follow, highlighting three pathways. The list of suggestions in the road map included, establishing city corporations, completing the ward delimitation and reservations by March 2026, creation of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee and selection of mayors, ward committee members and detailing their functioning, mandating area sabhas for neighbourhood-level engagement and ensuring financial and administrative autonomy of city corporations. Srikanth Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer, Janaagraha, said the GBA is a net positive move, but the GBGA is poorly drafted. The original draft of the Brand Bengaluru committee was better. We have recommended 46 specific actions to make the GBGA work for Bengalurus citizens. The Karnataka government has a golden opportunity to pioneer metropolitan governance in India, along with decentralised participatory governance. Its handling of the GBGA and its recent track record do not inspire confidence. Civil society, business and academia in Bengaluru should mobilise into a collective and ensure this opportunity is not lost, he said. Adding to this, Santosh Nargund, Director, Policy Engagement, Janaagraha, said that Bengaluru has been without an elected local government for nearly five years and this prolonged vacuum is denting the citys stature as a global metropolis.