Bommai reiterates planned development of Bengaluru

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai Bommai said the government was “keen” to come out with a clear agenda for the planned development of India’s IT capital which is known globally as a technology hub as well as its civic challenges.

The Karnataka government on Sunday reiterated its grand vision for the planned development of Bengaluru where public infrastructure continues to crumble on account of civic apathy.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the government was “keen” to come out with a clear agenda for the planned development of India’s IT capital (Agencies file)

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the government was “keen” to come out with a clear agenda for the planned development of India’s IT capital which is known globally as a technology hub as well as its civic challenges.

“Some prominent entrepreneurs have invited me for a preliminary discussion on plans for economic growth and development of Bengaluru and Karnataka. It is part of a series of such discussions and it is just the first in that series,” Bommai said on Sunday.

The plans come even as the city and it’s over 12 million population continue to endure the burden of the government’s inefficiency and apathy.

The city’s roads have become the benchmark for poor quality of public infrastructure in the country which is embellished almost annually with the lack of planning and long-term solutions that is often substituted with quick fixes which has so far only exacerbated the problems.

“More comprehensive discussions would follow after today’s meeting. The discussions would involve prominent personalities from various domains, legislators from Bengaluru, senior officers and my ministerial colleagues. The agenda to be evolved for the city’s planned growth would be discussed and finalised in the state legislature,” Bommai said.

The meeting was organized by Biocon Ltd chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw who is also a prominent voice against the city’s poor infrastructure and development.

The recent heavy rains in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka is conveniently being used as the reason for the deteriorating quality of roads in a city where a newly laid street by one civic agency is dug up by another which has formed a loop denying some relief to its residents.

During the monsoon session of the state legislature in September, Bommai had said over ₹20,000 crore was spent on road-related works in Bengaluru over the past five years.

The condition of roads is so bad that it has snuffed out several lives.

At least 18 people lost their lives in Bengaluru due to civic apathy in 2020 which is more than all other major cities in the country combined, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

In fact, Shaw had criticized the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body) which won an award in the union government’s Swachh Survekshan programme.

“BBMP wins award for ‘keeping Bengaluru clean’. This is the biggest joke on us citizens! A municipality who has failed to keep our city clean for decades wins the award? Citizens need to hold them accountable with rallies @BBMPSWMSplComm,” Shaw had posted on November 19. Earlier in July, she posted another tweet of a poor quality footpath.

“Is this what @BBMPCOMM accepts as a completed project? I am so depressed to see our city in ruins with no pride left. All other cities have used the pandemic to complete road projects except us!” she posted.