GBG Bill death knell to grassroots rule, will fight it out: Citizen groups

Bengaluru: With the state legislative assembly passing the Greater Bengaluru Governance (GBG) Bill 2024 on Monday, the Congress govt's ambitious legislation may have moved a step closer to become a reality. But citizen groups are furious and planning to approach the governor to seek his intervention to stop bill from becoming a law.
The citizen groups worry seven corporations to govern Bengaluru will not be successful, considering the current record of BBMP and wonder how the posts will be filled up under seven corporations, while BBMP is already struggling with ‘staff shortage'.
CIVIC (Citizens Volunteer Group) and Citizens' Action Forum highlighted that the proposed changes violate the 74th Constitutional Amendment, which mandates that planning powers should rest with the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). Instead, these powers have been given to the Greater Bengaluru Authority, which will be monitored by the CM himself, bypassing the constitutionally designated body.
Another major concern they have raised is the splitting of BBMP into multiple corporations, which could weaken its identity and governance capacity. A fragmented administrative structure may lead to inefficiencies and a lack of unified decision-making for the city. While the entire Bengaluru is waiting to have the long-pending BBMP elections, the govt is going about fragmenting BBMP, they say.
Kathyayini Chamaraj from CIVIC, said, "The mayor's term has been reduced from five years in the draft to just 30 months, which significantly affects stability and continuity in leadership. A shorter tenure may limit the ability of mayors to implement long-term policies effectively. We just can't keep quite with the speed at which the bill is proceeding. "
Another problematic provision is the creation of the assembly constituency level consultative & coordination committee, where the local MLA serves as chairperson, with MLCs as members. This introduces greater interference in local governance, undermining the autonomy of municipal bodies.
Citizen activists are also upset with what they said was a public consultation for name sake. Vijayan Menon from Citizens Action Forum added, "Only three days of time was given for public consultation against the 30-day mandate. We have already voiced our objections to the bill during public consultations, but the process itself was flawed, with an unreasonably short response window and no transparency on the outcomes. We will continue to fight to ensure Bengaluru's governance remains democratic, accountable, and in line with the constitution."
Quotes
Vijayan Menon from Citizens Action Forum
We will write to the governor in a day, highlighting the constitutional and legal discrepancies in the bill. If the governor gives assent to it, we will go to the high court and, if required, escalate it to Supreme Court. This is not just about a local law — it is about upholding the 74th Constitutional Amendment, which guarantees that municipal governance remains in the hands of elected local representatives. The current bill undermines that principle, placing power in the hands of the state govt and bureaucracy, effectively silencing citizen participation.
R Rajgopalan from Bengaluru Coalition
The GBG Bill is nothing, but a cut-and-paste job from outdated governance models that have failed elsewhere. It does not address the real challenges Bengaluru faces today — be it decentralisation, accountability, or transparency. Instead of streamlining governance, it creates more bureaucratic hurdles, making administration even more complex. If passed in its current form, this bill will only multiply problems rather than solving them.