Crumbling Infrastructure in Bangalore:

Bangalore has many epitaphs and I will not even begin to list them. These are but will fade away into watermarks, if nothing happens soon enough.

Let me begin by what I saw seventeen years ago, when we moved in here. This was a very peaceful city. We had a lot of time on our hands. We were never in a hurry. We need not have been. You never had traffic problems. Roads were wide enough for everyone. Then overnite, one fine day, the scales tipped there were just too many problems and we are in the thick of them now. What happened?

Bangalore happened. The latent businesses just flourished. IT, ITeS, Biotech and garment dreams were coming true. There was fertile ground for them to grow. But what successive goverments since early 90s failed to acknowledge was that, with this growth was a fertilizer needed to sustain this growth- infrastructure. Each one was smug in the development that was happening, not falling short of making claims on the success of Bangalore-based industries. With the exception of the last Congress government that Karnataka saw, there is not any substantial work done to improve the conditions of a city that has imploded.

Bangalore is not exactly an epitome of city planning, and since the turn of the century it is showing. The 'please adjust' culture of Bangalore, which has led us to be considered as one of the most welcoming and patient people has led to our downfall. If we have not yet, we soon will reach the nadir of urban bankruptcy- non-existent roads, hapless drainage system, rampant corruption, sub-standard public transportation system, an airport worse than some train stations, lame traffic control system, deficient power-supply and so on.

The international airport being built now has been on the table since around 1978. Why does a city of pensioners need an international airport? But, at the same time, we did give clearances to new business that would one day demand these.More bad planning on flyover executions. While it takes Mumbai 1 year to complete 51 flyovers, we are limping to bring 3 choking spots to normalcy for over 2 years now. People are willing to adjust, and so have I. And for the last decade we have been paying infrastructure cess on the petrol we buy, making Bangalore's petrol one of the most expensive in India.

Along with the people, the other people who are hurt the most are the businessmen who have built world-class facilities for their employees and the builders who have built 'world-class' homes for those who can afford it. They wish the same can be extended, to the extent possible, to the city. Then comes Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and the corporate sponsered task forces. This is an experiment which is bound to succeed if everyone place fair and plays his part. Corporates have the think tank to critically view planning and execution of the proposals for management of the city. Builders have the might to build the roads that will withstand the forces of traffic and nature. But no, we have politicians who think development is anti-poor and that talking pro-poor will help development. In any case what will they personally stand to gain from such partnerships, they are way too transparent for them to digest? They are here to bask in the glory of having been a 'minister' and while at it having made fortunes for his future generations- liqour licenses, land clearances, file-pushing, approval of licenses for what have you- all for cash. PPP work is hampered by government agencies (BMC, PWD, State PWD etc) who are used to laggard pace of doing work, and at most is manned by the losers in the bureaucratic set-up of city's planning. What the Agenda Task force gets is a snub from the last CM and the dismantling of the agency itself without even the consent of the stakeholders/private-sector sponsoring companies.

The Lok Ayukta vigilance cell set-up to contain curruption is crying hoarse that the state is lucky to be evaluated the third most corrupt one in the country. And that it should be on top of the list. But who is listening? You can guard the people but who will guard the guards (legislature and the executionary)? Both are busy filling their own pockets. Atleast this agency is succeeding at some pace to contain corruption at the grass-root level. I think they should have a carte-blanche for how they work, with checks and balances (already?) in place to prevent misuse of power.

In a controversial coup (which ones are not?), the current CM ousted the earlier one and is right now making the right noises. I am sceptical this is the 'heat of the moment' initiatives by the CM to bring back infrastructure-normalcy to the city, and it remains to be seen if the CM is able to sustain this enthusiasm. Lots of miles to go before this CM can claim he reached a landmark. There are far too many roads that lack pedestrian paths, far too many low-lying areas that beg for an effective storm-drain system, far too many disgruntled people at home waiting for power to come-back-and-stay.

Will be back with more on slow moving traffic in Bangalore. Your comments are welcome.