BENGALURU: Namma Bengaluru, which has put Karnataka on the global map through its potential in the IT sector, is struggling to find solutions to some of its problems. As the years pass by, the city poses new challenges to its administrators.
While the state government heavily banks on revenue generated here, the city is not getting its due attention. Many governments have promised to give the city a makeover. However, the city’s fragile infrastructure keeps getting exposed.
It did not take long for the Congress government, which was voted to power in May, to realize that they had to pull up their socks as a young woman lost her life after a car was deluged in the flooded underpass at KR Circle, just a stone’s throw from the power center, Vidhana Soudha. The incident held up a mirror to the city’s poor infrastructure.
The 2022 floods due to torrential rain, which prompted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to take up a demolition drive to clear storm water drain (SWD) encroachments, has not seen a logical end, as encroachers obtained stay orders and BBMP officials did not take any concrete steps to get the stay vacated. The city continues to see flood-like situations even today.
When citizens lose lives
The civic agencies’ apathy has also taken the lives of citizens. While road accidents due to notorious potholes keep repeating, the sheer negligence of Bescom claimed the lives of an unsuspecting woman and her nine-month-old toddler in Kadugodi.
In another incident, a woman was killed in Wilson Garden in September after she and her daughter were trapped under an electricity pole that came crashing down after a tree fell on it amid heavy rain. There is a dire need for the Palike to address issues related to footpaths, waste management, and maintenance of parks and public spaces in good condition.
Moving on to connectivity issues, the RV Road-Bommasandra line via Electronics City, which was to be completed by this year-end, failed to materialize due to the non-despatch of driverless coaches from China.
The Centre is yet to approve Phase-3 of Namma Metro, which connects the Outer Ring Road as a full circle. Corridor One will run for 32.15km along the west of Outer Ring Road from JP Nagar IVth phase to Kempapura, while Corridor Two will run from Hosahalli to Kadabagere on Magadi Road for 12.5km. There will be intersections with other Metro lines at five stations.
The Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project is inching along. Despite the contractor being selected for the Fourth Corridor of 46.8km from Heelalige to Rajanakunte, the work order has not been given. This is because Railways has yet to hand over land to the project implementing agency, K-RIDE.
To address multiple issues faced by the city and improve its image, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also Bengaluru's in-charge minister, proposed the ‘Brand Bengaluru’ concept that prioritizes effective urban planning, sustainable drainage systems, efficient transport systems, smart traffic management, pedestrian-friendly roads, citizen safety, and convenience. However, it appears that nothing has materialized yet. To address traffic woes, Shivakumar proposed the Tunnel Road Project to connect North-South and East-West Bengaluru via a 190-km tunnel. Experts, however, have opposed the project, terming it “unscientific”.
The Congress government, which was criticizing the previous BJP government for not conducting long-pending BBMP elections, seems to be in no mood to hold polls anytime soon and is delaying the ward reservation list. The elected body would have at least discussed crumbling civic infrastructure and held officials accountable. Bengalureans are hoping that at least now the city will get its due, as it is represented in the cabinet by none other than the Deputy CM himself.
A city of milestones
‘Climate Action Plan’
launched to help reduce Greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality
October 9: Metro train operations launched on the 2.1-km Krishnarajapura-Baiyappanahalli stretch to ensure connectivity for the IT crowd concentrated in the Kadugodi (Whitefield) area,6 with the rest of the Metro network. The Kengeri-end also extended up to Challaghatta on the same day. Bengaluru Metro’s overall network extends to 73.81 km at present
January 15: To cater to the huge rush of flyers, Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport built at a cost of around Rs 5,000 crore becomes operational. All international operations shift to T2 from September 12. KIA’s Terminal 2 was recognized as one of the world’s best airports by UNESCO’s 2023 Prix Versailles