Bengaluru: Bengaluru is the most aspirational city in the world. We have the youngest population in India that is hungry for growth and progress, as they believe in the idea of Bengaluru, the city that adapts to your aspirations.
But Bengaluru that was once considered the most conducive investment and livelihood destination has lost its sheen due to a decade of misrule of the previous coalition and the BJP government, who never comprehended the Brand Bengaluru. The BJP never understood that the city that had grown rapidly from a Pensioner’s Paradise to a city with a global footprint that needed vision, able administration and good governance at all levels. Much of Bengaluru’s progress is attributed to Congress’ vision for the city and it was during Congress’ regime that the city blossomed into a progressive cosmopolitan that could have matched any European or American city had we come back to power on our own in 2004. Unfortunately, post JDS-Congress coalition; Bengaluru has been at the receiving end, until now.
The BJP ruled the state for 5 years (besides the JDS-BJP coalition or the infamous 20:20 experiment) and controlled the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) for 8 years. The BJP single handedly ensured that BBMP became the Bruhat Bengaluru Mafia Palike with a string of scams. The BJP has the “Midas Touch” that turns everything into a scam. The list of swindles seems to begin with the infamous Garbage Scam. From being called the Garden City to Silicon Valley, the BJP let it earn the sobriquet of Garbage City. Even NY Times used this as their cover story in 2012. The BJP sat through the BBMP’s Bill Misappropriation Scam, Optic Fiber Cable laying Scam, TDR Scam, Advertising Billboard Scam and Water Tanker Mafia amongst other scams. The BBMP was driven to bankruptcy forcing them to mortgage historic buildings like Utility building, KR Market and Russel Market. For the first time BBMP slid into a debt of Rs 9,000 crore and it was the current Congress Government that bailed out the BBMP with a timely Rs 4,000 crore aid.
The ongoing BBMP election is crucial one for the future of Benguluru. The citizens have had enough and are looking for a corporation that will actually govern and administer the city. People are hinting towards a Congress governed BBMP to restore the city’s lost glory and put development back on track, just like it has done before. The Congress Manifesto for BBMP Elections 2015 has been drawn up keeping in mind all economic and social factors. Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s government is known as a government that “walks the talk” and not as a sloganeering “jumla”, “acche din” government that will take decades to fulfil. The Congress has carefully crafted many policies for the city that include bringing in all property khata holders under tax net, widening property tax through geographical information technology & strengthening the self-assessment tax system. We see a huge revenue potential of 5,000 crore from the BBMP to take up major infrastructure works for the city.
Congress is the only party who have envisioned all verticals of urban planning, be it urban transportation and infrastructure (decongestion, Metro, elevated roads, mono rail, doubling of tracks etc), e-governance, health and cleanliness (set up super speciality hospitals in 4 zones, building toilets, SWM, STP, curbing of garbage mafia, bio-methane units), housing for the middle class and economically weaker sections, establishing a Greater Bangalore Authority that will bring various authorities which are manning the civic projects under one single roof. This will be a one-stop authority for water supply, underground drainage, transport, housing, electricity and other developmental projects. We have also given greater thrust to fulfil the city’s growing demand for drinking water amongst other things.
Besides, the vision for the city, the state government has also envisaged the road ahead for Bengaluru in the upcoming Invest Karnataka 2015, the world investors’ meet to be held in November. The Government is positioning Karnataka as the most favorable destination in Asia with Bengaluru as its anchor. We are proposing the Information Technology Investment Regions Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIR) with a projected direct employment for 255,000 and indirect employment for 8,57,000 people with investments to a tune of $20 billion (about Rs.1 lakh 30,000 crore). The government also plans to showcase the city as an aviation destination besides giving major push to manufacturing, renewable and technology driven industries. We have also taken steps to create the city as knowledge hub and start up city leveraging our relations with our sister cities like the San Fransico and other cities. For the first time, we will also be chartering to make Bengaluru a financial services hub of India. The Department of Tourism is also deliberating on setting up a separate Bengaluru Tourism Council to experience and explore the city better to tap into the potential of 15 million tourist footfalls at The Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) and 118 million domestic travellers who visit Karnataka. All these activities will be leading to the “bigger picture” of a sustained smart city that caters to the people of the prosperous city.
BANGALORE or BENGALURU, Pensioner’s Paradise or Lake City, Garden City, or Education City, Sports City or Science City, Pub City or Silicon Valley of India or the most recent Start-Up City, whatever you might want to call it, the city needs to heal quick and I am quite confident that the citizens of Bengaluru will respond to the Congress’ call to come together to help us get Bengaluru back on its feet and re-establish Brand Bengaluru. As our first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru famously said “while all other cities in India represent our past, Bangalore represents India’s future”. The future belongs to us. VOTE WISE to regain the paradise!
(Priyank Kharge is a Congress MLA and spokesperson. He is also the son of Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge)
Comments
0 comment