It was meant to be a consultation between two primary civic agencies of Bengaluru about the future of the city. But of the 198 councillors, less than 20 attended the discussion on the Draft Revised Master Plan – 2031 during the council meeting of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday.

The councillors not only cut short the presentation on the draft RMP by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials, they also started complaining about things unrelated to the plan.

They accused the BDA of collecting development tax, keeping corner and CA sites and then handing over the layouts to the BBMP without developing infrastructure. “If Bengaluru is a banana, BDA is the fruit and BBMP is the discarded peel,” said Padmanabha Reddy, Leader of the Opposition in the council. He also alleged that he was not provided a copy of the draft plan which made it impossible for him to participate in the discussion, though the plan is available on the BDA website.

BDA authorities were criticised for presenting the draft plan to the BBMP council after it was prepared. “The BDA must have consulted the council during the drafting of the plan. It will never get the ground-level inputs like we do, and consultation with the BBMP council is mandatory,” said Mr. Reddy.

The rest of the debate mostly centred on councillors seeking clarifications from the BDA on changes to floor-area ratio (FAR) and related road width norms; how there was no land allotted for car parking; and how the BDA should take over widening of roads in the city.

The derailment of the discussion left citizens unimpressed. N.S. Mukunda of the Citizen Action Forum said Wednesday’s BBMP council meeting was symptomatic of the disease. “None of those governing us knows the intricacies of governing a mega city like Bengaluru. Let alone the BBMP, many in the BDA also do not know the importance and impact of the master plan for the city,” he said.

The project is being implemented under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) of the Ministry of Urban Development.

Previously, following instructions from the Amrut director, the Suchitwa Mission of the State government had obtained bids from two empanelled consultants Ultratech Environmental Consultancy and Laboratory and Ram Biologicals.

Ram Biologicals had quoted 1.46 % while Ultratech 1.60 % of the amount when the financial bid was opened in the office of the Superintending Engineer on December 16. Subsequently, the Amrut Core Committee selected Ram Biologicals.

At present, the city does not have a proper sewerage network. Sewage disposal is done with the help of septic tanks. However, these usually become unserviceable during the rainy season as the urban area has a high water table.

The project has been considered taking into account aspects such as the Arabian Sea in the west, the Cannoly Canal in the east, the Kallayi River in the south, and the Corporation boundary in the north.

Officials said that the Amrut project included decentralised, networked underground sewerage systems, including augmentation of existing sewerage systems and sewage treatment plants. The rehabilitation of old sewerage system and treatment plants and the recycling of water for beneficial purposes and the reuse of waste water are part of the project.

Thus, a faecal sludge management that involved cleaning, transportation and treatment in a cost-effective manner will be put in place. Further, the mechanical and biological cleaning of sewers and septic tanks will be done, they said.