Eye on pie, Greater Bengaluru Authority may bring Electronics City under its purview
Bengaluru: In a potentially contentious development aimed at increasing revenue for Bengaluru's development, speculation suggests that the new
Greater Bengaluru Authority
(GBA) might incorporate autonomous industrial townships like
Electronics City
Industrial Township Authority (
ELCITA
) to expand the tax base for city corporations planned under the new legislation.Bengaluru legislators who worked with the GBA committee told TOI about possible plans to acquire control of funds generated by ELCITA.
"The debate on adding and defining newer areas under GBA will be based on how much it will cost Bengaluru to develop these outlying areas," said a city legislator. "When a self-sufficient township like ELCITA is available to provide surplus revenue, then we definitely cannot ignore it."However, ELCITA officials say their authority's revenue structure receives unwarranted attention. "At present our tax revenue is approximately Rs 29-30 crore per annum. This is just a drop in the ocean for a city like Bengaluru which requires thousands of crores," an ELCITA official said.ELCITA chairperson V Veerappan told TOI that they have not received any official communication regarding GBA's potential takeover of the industrial township. "We are a body that has been notified by the govt and protected under law, and we intend to remain that way. We have not received any official communication stating otherwise," Veerappan said.Bengaluru ministers themselves maintain that no decisions have been finalised regarding areas to be included in the new GBA."It is too premature to consider which areas will be added to GBA and which will not," said Krishna Byre Gowda, revenue minister and Byatarayanapura MLA. "The act is yet to be notified. The govt also needs to convene a meeting of Bengaluru legislators and ministers to discuss the act. As of now, no such plans are afoot."Notably, distinct draft regulations to establish ELCITA-style townships, designed to reduce state expenditure, remain pending govt approval.
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