Karnataka assembly passes BMLTA Bill

BENGALURU, Karnataka: The Karnataka assembly has passed the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Bill to bring transport and allied departments under one roof to decongest and manage traffic in a better way. J C Madhuswamy, Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Karnataka said that the transportation sector in Bengaluru will come under the BMLTA’s purview and the jurisdiction of the proposed authority will be 279 square kilometres.  

Madhuswamy said, “This authority has been planned to integrate all the modes of public transport. It will take all the policy decisions related to urban mobility.”

The bill was proposed by Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai, in the Karnataka assembly, and will come into effect immediately. “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 highlighted the need for a scientific study and that, in this regard, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has been contacted for the same.

According to the bill, the Chief Minister will be the ex-officio chairperson and the Bengaluru development and transport ministers being vice-chairpersons. The Chief Secretary and other officials in the transport department will be ex-officio members.

By creating and upgrading the comprehensive mobility plan, the authority hopes to promote seamless mobility through sustainable urban transportation and integration of land use and transportation planning in the Urban Mobility Region (UMR).