#BMLTAbeku: Call Your MLA Campaign

Several organizations, citizen groups and volunteers from Bengaluru (including Jhatkaa.org) organized a #CallYourMLA campaign on Saturday, 11th September asking Bengaluru’s MLAs from urban and rural constituencies to discuss and table the revised Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority(BMLTA) Bill in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly session.

50+ volunteers participated in the #CallYourMLA campaign and reached out to 24 MLAs, asking them to urgently take up and discuss the BMLTA Bill. MLAs LA Ravi Subramaniam(Basvandugi), M Krishnappa(South), Dr. Srinivasamurthy(Nelamangala), Manjunatha(Dasarahalli), SR Viswanath(Yelahanka), K Gopalaiah(Mahalaxmi Layout), Soumya Reddy(Jayanagar), Akhanda Srinivas Murthy(Pulikeshinagar), M Krishnappa(Vijayanagar), M Satish Reddy(Bommanahalli) and Krishna Byre Gowda(Byatarayanpura) agreed to pledge their support to the bill and champion it at the Karnataka Legislative Assembly sessions. Additionally, 5 MLAs asked for further information on the Bill after hearing out the volunteers and many others asked us to meet them at their office regarding it.

Most of our MLAs heard the phrase ‘BMLTA’ on those calls and that is a phenomenal thing to happen. Many of them didn’t know what the Bill was about and our volunteers gave them more details. The calls led to MLAs talking about the BMLTA bill and raising questions- all of which are great outcomes and are examples of democracy in action.

In the calls to MLAs, volunteers made a strong case and highlighted how Bengaluru has multiple agencies and departments like the BMTC, BMRCL, KRIDE, BBMP and Transport Department among others, catering to the transport and mobility needs of the city. Each of these agencies function independently, and there is a clear lack of alignment in terms of strategy, plan and execution causing several problems — delayed execution and missing precious integration opportunities and in some cases, worsen the traffic situation.

The BMLTA Bill if discussed and passed will conceive an empowered and unified metropolitan transport authority(UMTA) that convenes, plans and coordinates projects of all transport and mobility service providers, based on long term mobility plan built on principles of sustainable mobility and with a scientific understanding of patterns of movement in order to reduce emissions and make daily commute reliable, safe and affordable for all citizens.

The campaign is an example of what citizen activism can do and how we can hold decision makers accountable. It has been heartening for us to work with changemakers and push for transport and mobility for all. We believe the BMLTA Bill is a significant step in that direction.

Read our explainer images below to know more about why we need BMLTA now and sign our petition to ask decision makers to discuss the bill in the winter session.

#BMLTAbeku