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Bengaluru not built for current number of people, vehicles: Min
Shivakumar on Thursday said that even divine intervention could not resolve the city’s traffic woes in the near future.
State home minister G Parameshwara on Friday supported deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar over his remarks on Bengaluru’s traffic congestion, stating that the city’s infrastructure was never designed to accommodate its current population and vehicular load.
“Bengaluru was not built for such a huge population and a large number of vehicles… We don’t have an infrastructure for that. Unless we spread out Bengaluru, traffic is always going to be a challenge in the city,” Parameshwara said, adding that the government was exploring multiple solutions, including underground roads, but these are long-term projects.
“All these measures - somewhere we have to build a flyover, somewhere we have to build an underpass, somewhere we have to go underground roads, all these kinds of things of course will take time, money and everything. What Shivakumar has said is, it cannot be within two years or three years. It cannot be a short term measure, it will take a little longer time. That is what I think he has mentioned,” he said.
His statement came a day after Shivakumar, who also serves as Bengaluru’s development minister, received backlash from the Opposition BJP for saying that even divine intervention could not resolve the city’s traffic woes in the near future.
Speaking at an event on Thursday, Shivakumar said: “I want to tell the media friends and others, even if God himself comes down from above, he cannot do anything (to fix) Bengaluru within the next one year, two year, or three year. Such is the difficulty. We have to plan properly, implement the projects properly, and we are making efforts to give a proper outline for the days ahead.”
This prompted BJP leader and Leader of Opposition R Ashoka to demand resignation of Shivakumar if he was unable to take responsibility for Bengaluru’s civic issues. “Leaders in public life must demonstrate a sense of responsibility, unlike Deputy CM Shivakumar, who only treats Bengaluru as a cash cow to fund his personal ambitions. If Shivakumar can’t take the responsibility of fixing Bengaluru’s civic issues, he must step down and make way for someone capable,” Ashoka said in a post on X on Friday.
He further said after previously admitting a lack of funds for development work, Shivakumar had now resorted to statements suggesting that fixing Bengaluru was beyond anyone’s control, calling him a “part-time Bengaluru development minister.” “Neither do people have any expectations from you nor your government, Shivakumar. Congress government is a curse to Karnataka and Bengaluru, and people are eagerly waiting to throw away this hopeless Congress government,” he added.
BJP state president BY Vijayendra also hit out at Shivakumar and the Congress, recalling their election promise of transforming Bengaluru into a city like Singapore. He accused the state government of failing to carry out basic civic tasks such as filling potholes. “Shivakumar and the Congress, which came to power promising to make Bengaluru like Singapore and to develop the state, are now making such statements,” he said.
“No development work is happening in Bengaluru, legislators are not getting funds for development works, but they talk about development,” he added.
With PTI inputs
