Published Dec 27, 2022 | 5:49 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 27, 2022 | 5:49 PM
Bengaluru Metro. (Creative Commons)
The Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday, 27 December, passed the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Bill, which aims to bring all the public mobility services under one umbrella, right from the autorickshaw to the city buses and metro trains.
According to Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC Madhuswamy, Bengaluru city transportation will come under the BMLTA’s purview and the jurisdiction of the proposed authority will be 279 sq km.
“This Authority has been planned to integrate all modes of public transport. It will take all the policy decisions related to urban mobility,” he said as he moved the BMLTA Bill proposed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister explained this bill seeks to supplement the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), which lays down a framework for the integration of various functions of institutions and departments to enable holistic transport planning.
Backing the bill, Bommai said Bengaluru did not grow in a planned manner where the growth was on one side while planning was on the other.
“The roads did not widen but every day, 5,000 new vehicles are added to the city. The city has 1.3 crore people but soon the number of vehicles here will overtake the city population,” Bommai said.
He also underlined the need for a scientific study and in this regard, the Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has been contacted to do the study.
The chief minister said that there 7,000 cameras procured under the Nirbhaya Scheme are functioning.
Due to these measures, the penalties collected from traffic violators using the cameras have increased much beyond the collection through physical checking.
According to the bill, the chief minister will be the ex-officio chairperson while the Bengaluru in-charge minister and the transport minister are the vice chairpersons.
The Chief Secretary, additional chief secretaries, Bengaluru Mayor, Bengaluru police Commissioner, commissioners of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Development Authority, Managing Directors of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprises, the Divisional Railway Manager and the Regional Officer of the National Highway Authority of India will be among the members of the Authority.
It has also proposed to make the experts in the area of urban mobility and representatives of civil society its member.
The BMLTA’s duties and functions will be to promote seamless mobility through sustainable urban transport and integration of land use and transport planning in the Urban Mobility Region by preparing and updating the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP).
It will also review and approve the City Mobility Investment Programme prepared in accordance will the CMP.
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