THE STORY OF BELANDUR: BEST PANCHAYAT BECOMES WORST WARD
A couple of weeks back, I participated in a ‘Nammoora Charche’ programme, organised by the Aam Aadmi Party, in Bangalore. This initiative, brings together concerned people to discuss issues that affect the people of Bangalore. Anchored and driven by Dr. Renuka Viswanathan, formerly Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat and Rural Development Secretary in the Government of India.
This instalment of the programme was for the residents of Bellandur ward in Bangalore, and the subject discussed was the knotty one of how to obtain a ‘Khata’, which is the document maintained by the Brihat Bangalore Mahanagara Palika; a list of all the payers of Property tax in the city.
Renuka herself is no stranger to Bellandur; she lives in the ward. Bellandur is the caravanserai of Bangalore’s silk route; the aortic corridor of industry and enterprise that connects the IT hubs of Whitefield, Sarjapur, Koramangala and onward to Hosur road, which leads to the Electronic City. For many of those who drive this tireless economic engine, Bellandur is the place to stay; it is a gaggle of IT parks, huge shopping malls, rows and rows of residential flats, restaurants and multiplexes. It is also the site for huge traffic snarls, now somewhat muted due to the Covid pandemic lull. Located in the heart of Bellandur is a lake. A lake with a dubious reputation. A lake that catches fire, spontaneously, and provides the subject for many viral videos. A lake that is as much a symbol today of Bangalore, as IT and the four watch towers of Kempegowda.
Yet, for me, Bellandur evokes a host of other ghostly memories. In 2000, when I took over as Secretary of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Bangalore was still governed by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palika. It had not grown to become a ‘Brihat’ Corporation. The city did not extend beyond the HAL airport. Marathahalli, now a traffic nightmare, was a sleepy village with a few dusty shops; not the place to hunt for bargain clothes and shoes. There was no ring road. A tunnel of trees signalled the silent road that led onward to Whitefield.
Bellandur was then a Grama Panchayat.
Not just any other Grama Panchayat; a very special one; possibly one of the best in the country.
The elected body of the Bellandur Grama Panchayat was led by a young president (Adhyaksha), Jagannath. By 2003, in just three years, his enlightened and visionary team undertook a remarkable transformation of the Panchayat, through participative governance. Bellandur Panchayat computerized its Grama Panchayat house list details in a partnership with a local software firm, M/s. Compusol, who developed the software as a demonstration, free of cost. Through the use of this software, the Grama Panchayat was able to update its property lists and improve its tax base. Property taxes were revised and from an annual level of Rs. 17 lakhs in 2000, they improved collections to Rs. 70 lakhs in 2003. This developed into a healthy cycle of good investments in public services, leading to the reinforcement of the people’s willingness to pay taxes.
Another unique innovation taken by Jagannath was to undertake a live telecast of Grama Panchayat meetings through an arrangement with a local cable TV operator. Citizens and voters of Bellandur could watch live, how decisions were made by their elected representatives of how their tax money should be paid. At a minimal cost, namely, a one-time cost of Rs. 25000 for laying the cable to the Grama Panchayat office and a Rs. 1000 charge for each telecast, the credibility of the Panchayat was enhanced through improved transparency.
Jagannath became a good friend and mentor. He joined the team of resource persons of the State Institute of Rural Development in Mysore, and plunged wholehearted into training and inspiring other Panchayats in Karnataka to take the lead. All I had to do was to follow him, and nudge him sometimes in a particular direction. One such small step was to introduce him to another visionary Panchayat Adhyaksha, Chengalrayappa, of the Devarayasamudra Grama Panchayat in Mulbagal Taluk, Kolar District. Chengalrayappa, a barely literate former bonded labourer, had grand plans for his Panchayat. Bellandur not only made their software available to Chengalrayappa, but also donated the computer to Devarayasamudra and trained a young girl from the village on how to operate it. We were having panchayat to panchayat partnerships and all one had to do was to stand back and watch.
It was utterly satisfying for me to not be wanted at all. That was the essence of democratic decentralisation, that local governments would not look up to directions from bureaucrats. We, in the government were taking leads from Bellandur, not the other way around.
Even as Jagannath won awards and was featured on international media, he had future plans for the Panchayat. At a time when GIS was still a novelty, he intended to undertake a complete re-survey of the dwellings and other structures in the village using GIS, for the purpose of further refining the property tax estimation and collection system.
Jagannath initiated a comprehensive environment plan to improve the local environment. The Panchayat had already planted roadside trees, asphalted all their roads and constructed an underground drainage system in the main village of Bellandur. He planned to extend the UGD to all villages in the Grama Panchayat and set up a solid waste management facility, including vermicomposting for eco-friendly waste disposal. He initiated a tank management plan for the Grama Panchayat, to protect the several large water bodies, which were begun to be increasingly polluted by Bangalore city’s waste water. His plan included setting up treatment facilities, working with the city’s agencies in order to clean up the lakes and developing a rainwater harvesting scheme for the village in order to conserve water. For all this, he largely depended upon the support of the citizens of the Panchayat, and the taxes they paid.
Anticipating the IT boom, Jagannath intended to work closely with the private sector to further improve the facilities for people.
However, all this was too good to last. In January 2007 the State Government constituted the BBMP and along with several other Grama Panchayats and some City Municipal Corporations, Bellandur was merged into the city. The 16 member Bellandur Grama Panchayat elected body, was superseded. No elections were held to the newly constituted BBMP till 2010. An official administrator was appointed, in gross violation of the Constitutional provisions. The Bellandur Grama Panchayat office became the ward office of Bellandur Ward. The live telecasts of the Grama Panchayat meetings were discontinued, because, well, there wasn’t any elected body any longer.
The grama sabhas; which are constitutionally mandated forums in rural areas, in which every voter automatically becomes a member, and which is vested with strong powers under the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, disappeared. Though the constitution prescribes ward committees for people’s participation in urban areas, using the excuse that an administrator and not an elected body was in charge in the BBMP, these were not constituted. So there were no avenues for peoples’ participation in the governance of Bellandur ward.
At one stroke, the painstakingly built structure for participatory governance in Bellandur was destroyed, by dissolving the Grama Panchayat and merging it into the giant BBMP.
As for Jagannath, he valiantly tried to resurrect his political career. However, he was forsaken by the new, powerful, urban interests that were keen to guide Bellandur’s ‘development’. The development included of course, huge, unplanned edifices, traffic snarls, garbage heaps, and a burning lake.
Jagannath left Bellandur.
In my next blog, I explain how moving from a rural structure to an urban structure under the Karnataka laws, means a decimation of peoples’ power.
Dr. T. R. Raghunandan, former IAS officer, who set up ipaidabribe.com