What Does Bengaluru Expect From The New Govt?

The Bellandur Lake in India’s information technology capital has been spewing poisonous froth, flooding the nearby areas. At the same time, social media is flooded with memes on worsening condition of some of the prime roads in the city, known as the City of Gardens. Groundwater levels are low and most of the areas in the city are fully reliant on water tankers. Owing to an unforeseen increase in construction activity, the quality of the city air has been going from bad to worse. Traffic congestion on roads is only making matters worse, air pollution-wise, too.

While talking to the PTI, the former Chief Financial Officer of Bengaluru-headquartered IT major Infosys Ltd, V Balakrishnan said, "The crumbling infrastructure, garbage issues, electricity, roads, etc., are making the city unlivable for its citizens. The governance of Bengaluru city, he said, had taken a backseat in the last few years".

These are only a few of the problems that the residents of the Bengaluru, that contributes 70 per cent to the Karnataka economy, face. With a new coalition government taking charge, the situation might get more challenging as the speed of infrastructure development and policy-making decisions might slow down.

 In the meantime, Bengaluru has many expectations.

 Revival of Brand Bengaluru

First of all, the city wants the revival of Brand Bengaluru. This implies that the new government should partner with industry, embrace technology to reskill and create jobs for the youth. While creation of more jobs has been a key poll promise, how the new government would create one crore jobs in the city could be a challenge. Also, there is a strong demand from the citizens for the right to elect a mayor for a five-year term so that there is accountability and responsibility to position Bengaluru as a global city. Priority should be given to improving governance in the city.

Decongesting city

Bengaluru streets are the most choked up during peak hours. Blame the poor road network! To make matters There are no alternative routes between locations either. Moreover, the streets are too narrow to handle the pressure.

At present, there are over 70 lakh registered vehicles in the town, the second highest in India. The depleting fleet of buses, high fares, poor last-mile connectivity, high parking fee at Metro stations and elusive suburban trains are pushing more and more people to opt for private vehicles. The rising number of vehicles is leading to congestion on roads, bringing down average speed and causing pollution levels to rise. According to an estimate, Bengaluru is likely to have 108 crore vehicles by 2022. What Bengaluru exactly needs now is a robust public transport system.

Building flyovers and widening streets won’t do any good unless commuters switch to bus or Metro. The Namma Metro is already behind schedule and the Metro Phase-II is likely to miss its deadline of 2020. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had attempted to widen roads by acquiring adjacent private properties but a lack of funds forced it to put all plans on hold.

Better environment

It was in January this year when the Bellandur Lake, oddly enough, caught fire. The fire that spread from there and took 30 hours to get extinguished made life hell for the people living close to six miles. In less than two weeks, a repeat of the mishap occurred; this time the fire burnt even more fiercely. The snow-white foam covered the 900-acre canal that even bubbled up to top stories of the nearby homes and topped onto road nearby. The potent mix of industrial and domestic waste with a mix of untreated sewage along with industrial discharge has made the lake a pot of flammable methane generator. According to the experts, around 70 million gallons of sewage enter the lake every day and the only solution is sewage treatment and regular monitoring of streams feeding the lake

Also, according to the study conducted by the  Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute (EMPRI), around 85 per cent of the city’s water bodies are severely polluted, placing them in the lowest grade of quality. 

The government had earlier ordered the establishment of two bodies for the protection and rejuvenation of lakes across the state, the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLDCA) for urban areas and the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (KTDCA) for rural areas. However, it eventually decided to withdraw the KLCDA and grant full responsibility to the KTDCA. The move received heavy criticism from the lake activists.

While there is no proper solution in place, the government needs to put effort into saving these lakes which is also a source of water for the local population.

The slum spread

According to the Karnataka Slum Development Board, there were around 3.96 lakh people living in 597 slums in Bengaluru in 2016. In fact, the KSDB has notified 2,397 slums in the state, of which 387 are in Bengaluru. The state government has not done much to solve the issue while blaming the Centre for not lack of cooperation.

The money the Centre had to grant for building of homes for the slum dwellers has reportedly not been given. In the meantime, the city of garden is rapidly seeing the creation of large slums all over.