After years of combating every civic woe in the book, from bad roads and flooding to a lack of drinking water and dealing with total apathy from a string of governments, the residents of Whitefield decided to take matters into their own hands. They began fixing unusable roads at their own cost, by creating corpuses within their layouts and communities (through RWAs) and nominating leaders from amongst themselves. The work was done in no time, at economical rates and total transparency was assured. Residents also took to Facebook, creating the Whitefield Rising page. With urban activists RK Misra and Nitya Ramakrishnan at the helm of affairs, Whitefield Rising began in 2013, with active citizens fighting relentlessly for their rights.
Even they couldn't have imagined the strength their community would gather - today, it is one of the most influential citizen groups working with the government. Whitefield Rising began one of the largest ongoing protests this city has seen, bringing a thriving IT hub to the attention of the government. Needless to say, the BBMP was left with no choice but to sanction funds and resume repair work in the area.
Pravir Bagrodia, a member of Whitefield Rising says, “The protest wasn't the only reason for the authority's response. Innumerable follow-ups and seamless ground work put in by members of WR, left authorities with no choice but to adhere to us." A three-member team, he said, had met the Mayor, the CM and the Home Minister even before the protest. "The process was speeded up due to the protest, however. That is not our achievement, though, our aim is to highlight the issues and suggest possible solutions. We had reached a point of total helplessness as things went from bad to worse." Children would arrive four hours late after school because the roads were all dug up, he added.
With roughly 13,000 members on board and a 100 active volunteers, Whitefield Rising also began the Black Friday campaign, a hugely successful initiatve that had people dress in black each Friday to protest the condition of the area. Their Facebook page was flooded with photographs of office-goers and residents dressed sombrely in black, while the selfie campaign for potholes and garbage also proved successful.
Nitya Ramakrishnan, one of the heads of Whitefield Rising says, “Our volunteers have been closely working with the civic agencies and monitoring their work over the last few years.” They began with saving-tree campaigns, which led to spot-fixing initiatives. That apart, the group has pitched in for philanthropic projects around their neighbourhoods and are currently helping Nelurhalli Bridge School, which caters to the children of construction workers in the area. Election time had the group's members work overtime with their voter-id drive, which ensured that every citizen in their neighbourhood was on the electoral lists.
Today, an area that once had only one traffic warden now has 22. Elevated corridors are also becoming a reality. As people fight and scuffle to have their voices heard, it was the members of Whitefield Rising who truly emulated the Gandhian principle of "Be the change you want to see."
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