GBA improves big-project coordination, but daily civic woes continue

A year after the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) was formed, its most visible achievement is smoother coordination among the city's multiple civic agencies on large infrastructure projects. However, the same synergy has not reached lower-level officials, leaving everyday problems such as garbage blackspots, potholes and citizen services largely unresolved.

Senior officials from the GBA and the five city corporations have held frequent meetings, which helped kick-start three long-pending underpass projects – at Wind Tunnel Junction, Okalipuram and Kateerava Studio. The first two had been stuck for years due to inter-agency disputes. With the GBA mediating, the central corporations and the Bengaluru Traffic Police agreed on a common timeline and began work.

Yet, coordination between field-level engineers and traffic police remains patchy. For instance, during white-topping of Panathur road, prolonged correspondence over who would enforce no-entry restrictions caused major delays. Similarly, soon after M.G. Road was resurfaced, the water board dug it up again for a minor leak – an avoidable disruption.

Around ₹3,000 crore of white-topping works are now underway, but poor execution planning has added to congestion. A senior traffic police officer noted that uncoordinated work at Agram Road choked a key link for a week before on-site fixes were made. “The problem is when a work is commissioned, there is communication between all departments, but during execution, there is a gap in forming a loop with all the parastatals,” he said.

Solid waste management remains the weakest link. Despite repeated meetings, garbage blackspots reappear because waste collection – handled by Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd. – does not align with the corporations' clearing drives. Some commissioners have even sought to take over waste collection to eliminate the coordination gap.

Citizens see little change on the ground. Sujith Cariappa of the Social Amenities Association, HAL II Stage, said that at grievance meetings, the GBA Commissioner heard complaints and assured quick action, but engineers did not follow up. Officials attribute such lapses to staff shortages, expecting improvement once recruitment is completed.

Traffic police and corporation officials, however, say the GBA has made communication easier. Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), noted that now commissioners and deputy commissioners of police are of similar rank, making it simpler to resolve issues. GBA Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao said micro-level issues are being handled well at the corporation level, and a corporation commissioner added that the system is new and initial gaps will close as ground-level work increases.

This is the fourth in a series evaluating Bengaluru's governance restructuring.