BENGALURU: When the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Bill, 2022 was passed in the legislature, citizens pinned hopes on the new authority, headed by the chief minister, playing a pivotal role in achieving better coordination among civic agencies and planning and executing urban mobility projects. But a year on, there is no immediate sign of the authority being constituted.
Urban mobility expert Satya Arikutharam said a year is too long a time to constitute an authority and make it functional. “It is very easy to talk about ‘Brand Bengaluru’, but the city doesn’t have basic institutional mechanisms that address core issues that citizens are facing and make plans… Take the example of Shivaram Karanth Layout being formed by the BDA. More than 34,000 sites are coming up there… has the BDA consulted other agencies such as BMTC or BMRCL for providing transport connectivity? Had the BMLTA been functional, these issues could have been addressed,” he said.
A source said the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), which will be the secretariat for the authority, has framed rules for operationalizing BMLTA and submitted them to the urban development department. After the UDD and the department of parliamentary affairs and legislation give clearance to the draft rules, a notification will be issued inviting suggestions and objections from the public.
“BMLTA will take off shortly. The BMLTA Act envisages various aspects such as bringing out a Comprehensive Mobility Plan and implementing it. Annual implementation plans by the stakeholders and better coordination among the agencies will help the city in a big way,” a source said.
The authority will have 34 members, including the Bengaluru in-charge minister, special invitees, and heads of agencies such BBMP, BDA, BMRCL, and BMTC.
Lack of coordination while planning and executing the projects by the agencies has remained a concern for citizens. For instance, South Western Railway built Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal at Byappanahalli by spending Rs 340 crore. The absence of good road network considerably delayed the terminal’s opening to June 2022. The issue related to non-integration of the Metro and railway stations at Yeshwantpur is yet to be addressed. Lack of seamless connectivity among the modes of transport at Majestic remained a concern for years.
