Karnataka is reeling under the weight of the deadly second wave of COVID-19, which forced state-wide lockdown. Bengaluru is the biggest contributor to the daily COVID tally in the state, and new measures were taken to help ease the prevailing situation.
Taking a cue from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s success in tackling the second wave of Covid, Karnataka issued directives last week to set up Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (DETER) Committees for Covid management in all 198 wards in Bengaluru based on the Mumbai model. But it appears the state government is mulling over making a U-turn on its decentralising plans.
The ministerial task force overseeing the COVID management in Karnataka has proposed relieving Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) of public health duties, which include its role in fighting the pandemic. This proposal has met with heavy criticism in Bengaluru.
Decentralising COVID management need of the hour
Last week, Revenue Department's principal secretary, N. Manjunath Prasad directed the ward level committees to have officials of the BBMP, ward committee members, government officers, volunteer RWAs and civil society organisations. The plan to decentralise COVID management with ward-level taskforces, CCCs, and empowering health inspectors and ward committees to work within their neighbourhoods is believed to be highly crucial to effectively fight the pandemic.
"This is a retrograde proposal being considered as a panic reaction. It is true that Covid response in Bengaluru is fragmented. The solution to that is to further empower the BBMP as the single point of executive authority over public health, water and sanitation and climate change, and not to divest it of the public health function. The lack of BBMP's capacities is squarely the fault of successive state governments. The city needs a single point of political accountability and that needs to be the BBMP Council and Mayor. Bengaluru needs a lasting political solution, not ill-conceived administrative fixes," said Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of Janaagraha, a non-profit working on urban governance issues.
The criticism overflow against the government's proposal started a day after Deputy CM Dr Ashwathnarayan said the state would likely hand over the COVID-related responsibilities to Bengaluru Health Directorate, which ideally falls under BBMP. The Bengaluru Health Directorate is a parastatal body constituted under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
"There are many agencies carrying out public health functions in Bengaluru. The newly proposed Bengaluru Health Directorate aims to bring them all under one umbrella, thereby strengthening health services provided in the city," Dr Ashwathnarayan had said.
