Do BBMP council meetings need Marshals?

BANGALORE: Though BBMP has written to the State government seeking the appointment of ‘Marshals’, it has not become reality even after two years.In December 2010, in the BBMP Council meeting,  the then Opposition party leader M Nagaraj and his team created chaos and distracted the meeting. Following this, Mayor Nataraj had written letter to the State government seeking the appointment of Marshals. He had also stated that BBMP Council meetings are similar to Assembly sessions and there is a need to appoint Marshals who can control enraged councillors. He had sought 15 marshals to keep the councillors who behave badly under control. Even after two years, the request is still pending with the  government, Deputy Mayor S Harish said.According to BBMP sources, there is no provision in the KMC Act 1976 for employing marshals at the council meetings. “We have attenders in white uniform who act as marshals. However, the marshals in Vidhana Soudha are trained to handle untoward situations during Assembly proceedings whereas, the attenders in BBMP Council fear to send councillors outside the hall,” sources said. Though Karnataka Municipal Council (Procedure for the Conduct of Business of the Corporation and Committee) Rules, 1998 (Section 87 to 90) emphasise that Councillors cannot bring any objects inside Council hall during meeting, councillors, especially from Congress and JD (S) have often brought objects like newspapers, drums, black clothes and other things to distract the meeting. “We need marshals at this point who can send the councillors or take those objects from them,” the sources said.