Since the election dates announcement, we are witnessing a flurry of TV programs with a lot of sound and fury, but little substance that differentiates the parties. Resident welfare associations and apartment groups are gearing up for the political slug fest of what the parties will do for Bengaluru. The election season has us preoccupied with rearranging the deck chairs aboard the Titanic as it heads towards the iceberg.
As per the revised master plan forecasts, Bengaluru population will double to over two crores by 2031. The key question for politicians of all hues is that when we are struggling to manage a city of one crore, what is their vision and plans to head off the upcoming ship wreck. When trust deficit between citizens and the politico-bureaucratic class is at a low ebb, what are their credible plans to regain our trust? For starters can be expect more transparency and sensitivity to on ground concerns and less grand standing?
The political parties do have ideological differences and that’s the basis for voters to consider as they evaluate their choices. However, when it comes to city governance and administration, one wishes the political parties find common ground on the contours of the typical city livability issues. For instance, can we have a common understanding that sans delegation, citizen participation at the ward-level, decentralization through multiple corporations and integration across the corporations and zillion agencies at the city-wide level there is no way Bengaluru’s woes can be addressed.
And that we need better human resources capacity in government to tackle our problems. The common ground would extend to principles to fix civic problems. For example, roads will be built around pedestrians; emphasis on public transport to fix traffic; segregation at source and stream-wise garbage processing over quarry dumping and unproven waste to energy plants; water, lakes and flooding to be addressed by an integrated water shed management; data based, evidence led decision making; trust, share information with citizens over opaque governance and so on.
There is an underlying solution set for Bengaluru that needs to be universally adopted across parties. Let them slug it out on who is more citizen-centric and better at execution. If we continue with the business as usual model, it’s a matter of time before the hour of reckoning with the ‘iceberg’ dawns on us.
V. Ravichandar
Twitter@ravichandar
Author is an urban expert, who calls himself the Patron Saint of Lost Causes