70
N. Akhtar and P. N. Kuriakose
3.4 Bengaluru: The Case Study
3.4.1 City Profile and Institutional Structure
Bengaluru, earlier named Bangalore, is the capital city of Karnataka state of India
lying almost equidistant from both the western and the eastern coast of South Indian
peninsula and lies 920 m above mean sea level. Bengaluru has a flat topography
except for the central ridge. Many rivers cross the city including river Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi, and South Pennar cross at the Nandi hills. Due to the undulating
terrain of the region, a large number of tank formations have occurred in the area,
which facilitates traditional uses of irrigation, drinking, washing, and fishing. In
1961, the number of lakes were around 262, but were later seriously affected due to
increasing urbanization and their numbers came down to only 33 in the year 2003.
The pleasant weather of Bengaluru makes it one of the most preferred cities to settle.
The temperature there varies from 39 degrees to 11 degree Celsius, and summer
temperature barely exceeds it. The atmosphere neither gets very humid nor very dry
and the average rainfall received is 923 mm.
The municipal governance of Bengaluru’s history can be traced back to March
27, 1862, when a Municipal Board under the Improvement of Towns Act of 1850
was formed by nine leading citizens of the city. After this, the Cantonment area of
the city was also allocated with a similar municipal board. These two boards after
being legalized in 1881, functioned as independent bodies by the terms Bangalore
City Municipality and the Bangalore Civil and Military Station Municipality. After
India’s independence from the British, the two municipal boards were merged as per
the Bangalore City Corporation Act to form the Corporation of the City of Bangalore
in 1949. This corporation had 70 elected representatives along with 50 electoral divisions. The name of the council also went through changes. It was first named Bangalore City Corporation (BCC), then Bangalore Mahanagar Pallike (BMP), and finally
to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Pallike (BBMP) in April 2007. BBMP was formed
with 198 wards after a notification issued by the Karnataka Government to form one
administrative body by merging the areas under existing BMP with 7 CMCs (City
Municipal Council), 1 TMC (Town Municipal Council), and 111 villages around the
city. BBMP presently comprises eight zones, i.e., East, West, South, Bommanahalli,
Yelahanka, Darasahalli, Mahadevpura, and RajajeshwariNagar zone. BBMP follows
decentralized administration at the zonal level. The Joint/ Zonal additional Commissioner drawn from State Administrative Services head the zonal office. All of the
eight zonal offices are assigned the following functions and departments within jurisdiction: Welfare department, Education department, Revenue department, Health
department, Horticulture department, and General administration (Fig. 3.4 and Table
3.3).
N. Akhtar and P. N. Kuriakose
3.4 Bengaluru: The Case Study
3.4.1 City Profile and Institutional Structure
Bengaluru, earlier named Bangalore, is the capital city of Karnataka state of India
lying almost equidistant from both the western and the eastern coast of South Indian
peninsula and lies 920 m above mean sea level. Bengaluru has a flat topography
except for the central ridge. Many rivers cross the city including river Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi, and South Pennar cross at the Nandi hills. Due to the undulating
terrain of the region, a large number of tank formations have occurred in the area,
which facilitates traditional uses of irrigation, drinking, washing, and fishing. In
1961, the number of lakes were around 262, but were later seriously affected due to
increasing urbanization and their numbers came down to only 33 in the year 2003.
The pleasant weather of Bengaluru makes it one of the most preferred cities to settle.
The temperature there varies from 39 degrees to 11 degree Celsius, and summer
temperature barely exceeds it. The atmosphere neither gets very humid nor very dry
and the average rainfall received is 923 mm.
The municipal governance of Bengaluru’s history can be traced back to March
27, 1862, when a Municipal Board under the Improvement of Towns Act of 1850
was formed by nine leading citizens of the city. After this, the Cantonment area of
the city was also allocated with a similar municipal board. These two boards after
being legalized in 1881, functioned as independent bodies by the terms Bangalore
City Municipality and the Bangalore Civil and Military Station Municipality. After
India’s independence from the British, the two municipal boards were merged as per
the Bangalore City Corporation Act to form the Corporation of the City of Bangalore
in 1949. This corporation had 70 elected representatives along with 50 electoral divisions. The name of the council also went through changes. It was first named Bangalore City Corporation (BCC), then Bangalore Mahanagar Pallike (BMP), and finally
to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Pallike (BBMP) in April 2007. BBMP was formed
with 198 wards after a notification issued by the Karnataka Government to form one
administrative body by merging the areas under existing BMP with 7 CMCs (City
Municipal Council), 1 TMC (Town Municipal Council), and 111 villages around the
city. BBMP presently comprises eight zones, i.e., East, West, South, Bommanahalli,
Yelahanka, Darasahalli, Mahadevpura, and RajajeshwariNagar zone. BBMP follows
decentralized administration at the zonal level. The Joint/ Zonal additional Commissioner drawn from State Administrative Services head the zonal office. All of the
eight zonal offices are assigned the following functions and departments within jurisdiction: Welfare department, Education department, Revenue department, Health
department, Horticulture department, and General administration (Fig. 3.4 and Table
3.3).