IT corridor gets a corporation; locals welcome move, others raise concern

A long-standing demand of the city’s Information Technology (IT) corridor residents for a dedicated corporation to govern their areas is likely to become a reality soon.

Bengaluru East City Corporation - with K.R. Puram and most parts of Mahadevapura assembly constituencies, except a part of Bellandur ward - houses most of the city’s IT corridor and, as expected, emerged as the richest corporation. However, this has also raised concerns over disparity in revenue generation potential of various corporations and over linguistic issues as well. 

Early votaries

Residents of Mahadevapura and K.R. Puram were among the earliest votaries of a multiple corporation set up in 2015, arguing that joining the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had worked against them, as despite being the highest contributors to the civic body’s revenue, infrastructure in their areas continued to suffer a perpetual lag.

Representatives of Whitefield Rising and Varthur Rising, prominent RWAs of the area, have welcomed the draft. Several IT companies and tech parks are also on board, sources said. Anjali Saini, a member of Whitefield Rising, supported the split, saying it would help address the problems of each zone more effectively and allow the administration to sharpen its focus.

A part of the Bellandur ward, areas beyond Sarjapur Road, have been split and added to Bengaluru South City Corporation to ensure parity in tax collection potential between various corporations. The part added to South Corporation generates about ₹100 crore in property tax, sources said. 

Language issues 

The two constituencies are known to house a large population of migrants from outside the State. N. Jagadish Reddy, of Varthur Rising, a prominent RWA of the area, warned that the new boundaries create corporations with linguistic divides. He cautioned that linguistic politics should not influence the selection of representatives.

N.S. Mukunda, of Bengaluru Praja Vedike, said language was increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the city, especially in the IT corridor, and the government should ensure that the primacy of Kannada is maintained at any cost.