BENGALURU: Governor Vajubhai Vala on Monday delivered his address at the joint session of the state legislature. While the speech was a roundup of the previous government’s initiatives, problems faced by Bengaluru found prominent mention in the hour-long discourse. Acknowledging that his government was aware of the infrastructure gaps in the city, the governor said the new government will strive towards an integrated development of the city.
Vala spoke about the government’s plans to implement intelligent transport system in core parts of the city, free wi-fi, CCTV cameras, panic alarm and SOS button in mobile apps for women’s safety in buses.
Vala added that the government will also implement the tried-and-tested ‘bicycle sharing programme’ in the city. The Siddaramaiah government had successfully implemented Mysuru public bicycle use system (PBS) project and intended to implement the same in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike area by issuing a permit to multi-managers.
In a repetition of Siddaramaiah’s budget in February, Vala said Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd will complete 118km of lane length by March 2021. Though he highlighted Bengaluru’s position as a global leader for IT and BT and first among all digital cities in the world, there was no mention of the garbage crisis and frothing lakes among other problems.
The speech, however, reiterated the government’s plan to improve water distribution in the city by reducing the unaccounted flow of water and leakages with the help of Japan International cooperation agency. Opposition leader B S Yeddyurappa, who lambasted the speech as a “bundle of lies”, said the government was silent about law and order situation as well as improvement of Bengaluru while simply making hollow promises.
“It is glaring that the government is silent on the improvement of Bengaluru which provides 65 per cent of the state revenue,” he said.