The third edition of The Annual Survey of India’s City Systems is out and it does not look good for namma ooru leading sixth, from below. With several other surveys ranking Bengaluru low in basic amenities, infrastructure and pointing to adequacies in urban governance, we get citizens to dish out on what it’ll take to make Bengaluru a real chart topper.
To grieve or not to grieve seems to be a top question on the minds of city folk. Although most civic bodies have launched websites and helplines, Bengalureans don’t think there’s anyone manning them. “Dedicated, active helplines is a must,” says Nikhil Hegde, a restaurateur in the city.
He explains, “Recently, when we were opening up 38 Castle Street, the whole road was dug up due to a blocked drain, making it impossible to even get through. The help lines did little to help and it took us weeks to reach them. It’s the same case with registering your business or attaining a license for instance – unlike in a city like Gujarat where the governance has moved online.”
The garbage crisis and traffic choked, potholed roads are some other things that have failed the city. “Forget implementing garbage segregation, no one even is prompt enough to clear it either,” says Vinay Janardhanchari, a technical specialist who works with Swa-oorja Green Solutions, something that deals with waste management and waste to energy solutions. “Although the political systems may be posing a threat to how organised we are as a city, the onus doesn’t just fall on the elected representatives – it’s as much on the citizenry,” he says, suggesting that strong communities should be created in areas and responsibility should be taken by them to see to it that a problem is fixed. “Bengaluru has several such citizen groups already. The more, the merrier,” he says.
Karnataka’s capital scored a nada in implementation of master plans and in prevention of plan violations. Even cities like Patna, Lucknow, Nagpur and Bhopal were ranked before us in optimum use of IT and smaller cities like Bidar and Shimoga are way ahead in several parameters. Despite of the incomplete flyovers, responsiveness of administration, the massacred roads and traffic, Priya Chetty-Rajagopal believes the city is magic. “Here, merit works instead of money, the weather is fabulous and its people socially conscious. If there was no place left and I’d to live on a toothpick here, I would,” says the executive director of leadership and board practice at RGF Executive Search.
