Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 25 (ANI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday said the division of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) would be completed by September 15 and the Greater Bengaluru Authority would be formed after that.

Addressing a press conference after holding a meeting on the Greater Bengaluru Authority, DK Shivakumar said, 'We will discuss this with the Leader of the Opposition and other MLAs. Will take a final decision after taking everyone's opinion and placing it before the Cabinet.'

'We have issued a notification to change BBMP into Greater Bengaluru Authority from May 15. We have to set up the new corporations within 120 days. We will get feedback from the MLAs on the number of corporations and their contours. We have decided to evict all street vendors from the pavements. Till now, 27,665 street vendors have registered, and we will be issuing them push carts. The registered vendors have to do business in designated areas. As many as 3,755 vendors have sought push carts. Some vendors are trying to put pressure on us through MLAs, but we can't allow that as per the law. We will carry out the eviction in phases, even if we are not able to do it all at once,' Shivakumar said.

He highlighted plans to develop 300 km of roads along stormwater drain buffer zones and emphasised coordination with MLAs for land acquisition and compensation. He also directed the BBMP to address unauthorised cable installations and ensure proper desilting of sewage systems.

'We have discussed the road widening with MLAs. We will issue TDRs to landowners wherever the MLAs recommend land acquisition. Landowners can discuss acquisition and compensation with the MLAs. We have identified areas for developing 300 km of roads along the buffer zones of stormwater drains. Many MLAs have said that optical fibre cables have been laid through the sewage lines. I have instructed the BBMP to remove such cables. We have also instructed the desilting of sewage lines,' he added.

Shivakumar directed the police to establish a 100-acre dumping yard for abandoned vehicles, clarifying that vehicles left unattended for over 21 days on roadsides may be classified as abandoned and auctioned.

He outlined the government's push to digitise 25 lakh property khatas into e-khatas to ensure registration and tax collection transparency, with 5 lakh already completed.

'We have instructed the officials to convert 25 lakh khatas into e-khatas. We have completed the digitisation of 5 lakh khatas till now. We are trying to bring transparency to property registration and tax collection. This initiative has got national e-governance award. We had decided to build the sky deck in Hemmigepura but it may not be possible as it should be at least 20 km from the airport. Hence, we have decided to build the sky deck in Kempegowda layout. We have received a lot of complaints about old vehicles being abandoned and parked on roadsides. We have instructed the police to create a dumping yard for such vehicles on 100 acres of land. Any vehicle parked on the road for more than 21 days can be considered an abandoned vehicle and can be auctioned. We will merge the service roads and main roads wherever metro work is going on to ease traffic movement. This initiative will be taken up in 40-50 km of arterial roads. MLAs have agreed to this move,' Shivakumar said. (ANI)