BBMP out, GBA in!
Five new corporations, fresh IAS officers & sweeping powers mark city’s most ambitious civic shake-up
OB Bureau
In a landmark overhaul of civic administration, Bangalore’s governance formally transitioned midweek to the newly constituted Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), replacing the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The change, years in the making, is expected to address long-standing gaps in infrastructure planning, service delivery, and urban management in India’s tech capital.
The state government has appointed 34 senior officials to lead the GBA, comprising 15 IAS and 19 KAS officers. The appointments cover top posts, from the chief commissioner to joint commissioners for the five new corporations into which Bangalore has been divided.
The restructured framework, officials said, aims to decentralise governance and provide a sharper focus on the city’s pressing civic needs.
While some of the BBMP’s incumbent officials have been retained — including Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao — the government has inducted 10 new IAS officers to infuse fresh administrative energy.
Of these, five secretary-rank officers have been named commissioners of the newly carved corporations, supported by five additional commissioners (development) from the junior IAS cadre. Together, they will oversee critical areas such as revenue collection, grievance redressal, and delivery of civic services.
To strengthen the administrative machinery, 19 KAS officers have been posted as joint commissioners and assistant commissioners across the five corporations. Their mandate will focus on ground-level execution and closer engagement with citizens, officials said.
Beyond civilian administration, the GBA also brings a dedicated enforcement wing. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) will now function under the authority, headed by an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)-rank officer and assisted by a superintendent of police.
The overhaul is rooted in recommendations made after a 2020 comprehensive study that identified major shortcomings in Bangalore’s governance model. Following this, the state government in 2023 set up a high-level committee under Chief Secretary B.S. Patil, which carried out extensive consultations with stakeholders before submitting a draft framework.
Based on these recommendations, the Cabinet cleared the legislation earlier this year, paving the way for the formation of the GBA.
The GBA’s scope extends beyond Bangalore’s core city limits, covering surrounding towns that have seen rapid growth but lacked proportional civic infrastructure. With the city projected to cross 20 million residents in the next two decades, planners say the new model is designed to pre-empt crises in water supply, waste management, transport, and housing.
For Bengaluru, the shift from BBMP to GBA represents not just a change in acronym but a structural transformation of how the city is managed. Whether the reforms deliver on their promise, however, will be tested in the months and years ahead.
ED links Cong MLA to Rs 2,000-Cr betting scam
OB Bureau
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Karnataka Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra and his associates generated more than Rs 2,000 crore through online betting websites, funnelling the money via a single payment gateway in a short span of time.
The Bengaluru Zonal Office of the ED has said that it carried out fresh searches on September 2 across multiple premises in 31 locations spanning Bengaluru, Challekere, Panaji, Gangtok, Jodhpur, Hubli, and Mumbai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The probe has linked Veerendra to several betting platforms, including King567, Raja567, and Lion567. According to investigators, funds collected through these portals were routed using multiple gateways and fintech service providers before being layered through mule accounts, escrow arrangements, and hawala channels.
During earlier raids, officials seized Rs 12 crore in cash, gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, around 10 kg of silver, and four luxury vehicles. In the latest round of searches, five high-end cars — including two Mercedes Benz models with VIP registration numbers — were impounded.
The ED also froze assets worth Rs 55 crore, including Rs 40.69 crore spread across nine bank accounts and one Demat account linked to Veerendra, and Rs 14.46 crore parked in 262 mule accounts used to channel funds.
The agency further claimed that Veerendra’s brother, K.C. Thippeswamy, operates Dubai-based firms — Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime Technologies — connected to the call centre and gaming network.
Investigators suspect that other overseas entities, such as Castle Rock Project Management Services and Lascaux Core Project Management Services, were also floated to mask illicit operations.
The ongoing investigation is focused on unravelling the flow of proceeds of crime (POC). Veerendra, currently in ED custody, was remanded for seven additional days on August 28 after officials submitted evidence linking him to money laundering and illegal betting activities.
Further investigation is underway.
Meth, money & B’lore links; 6 held
OB Bureau
In a major breakthrough against narcotics trafficking, the Delhi Police on Wednesday said it had dismantled an international drug syndicate operating out of Bengaluru, with links stretching to Kerala and Nigeria.
Six people, including two Nigerian nationals and a woman, were arrested, and nearly seven kilograms of methamphetamine worth over Rs 21 crore was seized.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Harsh Indora said the racket had a “well-organised supply chain” connecting Delhi, Bangalore, and Kerala.
“The Nigerians acted as suppliers, while the Bengaluru-based accused financed and distributed the drugs. Their primary targets were students, IT professionals and young people across South India,” he noted.
The operation began on July 19 after Kerala Police tipped off their Delhi counterparts about Suhail A.M. (31), a history-sheeter wanted in multiple NDPS cases. Suhail and his aide Sujin K.S. (32) were tracked to a Delhi guesthouse, where nearly six kilograms of meth was seized.
Interrogation led police to their Nigerian source, identified as Tobi Nwoyeke alias Deco (35), from whom another 929 grams of meth was recovered. Deco, who had earlier lived in Bangalore, revealed the network’s kingpin was operating from Nigeria.
Subsequent raids in Bangalore led to the arrest of financier couple Md. Zaheed (29) and his wife Suha Fatima (29). A follow-up operation in Greater Noida nabbed another Nigerian, Chikwado Nnake Kingsley (29), who had been in India since 2015 and was linked to other traffickers.
In all, 6,895 grams of methamphetamine was seized during the multi-state operation. Police said Suhail had graduated from a consumer to a trafficker in just five years, using “dead drop” tactics to avoid detection. Investigations are ongoing to trace the syndicate’s wider international links.