Greater Bengaluru blueprint ready, operations to begin on Monday

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The Karnataka government has finalised a blueprint for the administration of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) that is set to come into force from Monday, The New Indian Express reported.

Several departments, such as health, education, revenue and finance, will now function directly under the new entity, replacing Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

As per the report, three IAS officers will be special commissioners working directly under the Chief Commissioner of the GBA, who will be an officer of the rank of Principal Secretary with a three-year term. The officer will also serve as the District Election Officer.

One special commissioner shall take care of Public Relations and Coordination, Election and Disaster Management and Forest, Environment and Climate Change, the report added. Another IAS officer appointed shall be in charge of revenue generation, information technology wing and administration of the GBA.

“The staff and human resources across the five corporations will be looked after by the Special Commissioner, Administration, GBA. Along with existing staff in BBMP, staff on deputation from the parent department (urban development department) will also be taken until the new system is streamlined,” a senior IAS officer was quoted by TNIE as saying.

Meanwhile, the education and health department under GBA will be looked after by a separate Special Commissioner.

As per the organisation chart, a direct IAS officer will function as Special Commissioner (Finance) and he will hold the charge of Chief Financial Officer. Under the new structure, Legal Cell Head/Law Officer, Chief Vigilance Officer, Chief Town Planner, Head of Engineering Wing, B-Smile (Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited), Chief Engineer-Planning (2), Superintending Engineers (2), Executive Engineers (4), Assistant Executive Engineers (4) will also work directly under the GBA Chief Commissioner.

As per the report, the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force, an agency working to bring in discipline among parastatal agencies and bring in transparency, shall also come under the GBA Chief Commissioner.

Furthermore, five new Municipal Corporation Commissioners for Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru East, Bengaluru West and Bengaluru Central will work as per the directions of the GBA Chief Commissioner.

Earlier, BBMP Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao has said that all new commissioners of each corporations will get a new office and that proposal will also be sent to government about staff for new corporations, the report added.