Observe laws and pass core values to children: N Santosh Hegde

Bengaluru: Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde has exhorted people to observe the law and pass on core values to their children and ensure they too follow and comply with it. “Youngsters should be told it is not ok to break a red light traffic signal,” he added.

He said this during his address at the 16th Chevening India lecture cum panel discussion on “Moving from Consumers to Citizens – Engagement in Urban Governance”, in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The former Lokayukta provided many examples of misuse of the law and stated that people were at fault when it came to breaking the law. “Although the law states that only houses with a maximum of four floors, including ground floor, can be constructed on a private patch of land, many people flout that rule,” Hegde added.

Priya Chetty Rajagopal moderated the event after Justice Hedge had set the tone for the evening. Mark Atherton of the Association of Greater Manchester said it was difficult to get people to engage in governance and pointed out that in the UK, public funding has decreased.

Atherton also referred to London and its traffic congestion and added that, “People will always prefer private transport as it gives them personal space.” He mentioned that infrastructure and public transport systems needed to be constantly upgraded.

Naresh V. Narasimhan of Venkatraman Associates said that Bengalureans were mesmerized by politicians and their promises. He mentioned that during the 70s and 80s Bengaluru was a very modern and comfortable city, which is not the case today.

Shailesh Pathak of CityInfra Capital said that population of Bengaluru will soon double and called for getting the politics right. He alluded to the fact that Bengaluru’s mayor was just a figurehead and the city was actually run by MLAs and MLCs. Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister L.K. Atheeq also spoke at the event.