Remapping A Technopolis

It could well be the precise click to dot com Bangalore as the best city in Asia: a modern Eden whose trademark balmy breeze mingles with levitating microchip-controlled trains, its skyline, a blend of green precincts and arcing fly-overs. A metropolis with its placid lifestyle that is unscathed by the metamorphosis. For, it’s a mission thought out by the best brains, ready to pump in megabucks and backed by a popular upsurge that has displaced the characteristic sneer among Bangaloreans about their boom city going bust.

At the helm is chief minister S.M. Krishna, no less. One could discern his zeal to beautify the city when he sat all day with bureaucrats, technocrats and corporate honchos on January 24 to draw up a blueprint for the city. At the end of it, Krishna had the task well-defined: one for June 2000, when most hassles of the people would have been addressed, and another for 2004-2005, when "Bangalore will be the best city in Asia, with a standard of living worthy of emulation by others". The honchos came forward with doles of over Rs 25 crore to improve state-run primary schools, develop roads, build sanitation units, instal traffic signals and for betterment of slums. An overwhelmed Krishna exclaimed: "We have never seen this involvement for the city’s development. We’ll develop slums with a Rs 250-crore aid from hudco."

The visible signs of a crumbling city have forced the state and corporates to work out a joint strategy. Bangalore was chosen as the "city of the future" by German news weekly Die Zeit for its millennium issue, not for the silicon rush, but in view of the contradictions - its problems, a deteriorating environment and inadequate infrastructure, its exploding population, the social tensions coupled with a booming technology industry and its traditional links.

When Krishna decided to see for himself the cause for the city sinking to its nadir, he had to move about with a handkerchief to keep the stench away. Pot-holed roads, pollution, appalling conditions in municipal schools and the manner in which real estate sharks had violated every law to make a pile during the boom. Basement car parks have given way to restaurants, forcing tenants and visitors to cram the roads with cars and two-wheelers. The city, he was told, has three million vehicles. One million of which are two-wheelers. The reason: Bangalore lacks a mass transport system to match its burgeoning population of 6.8 million.

His predecessors too have made attempts, albeit futile, to change it all for the better. The initiatives began under R.K. Hegde in the early ‘80s, with measures such as a green belt around Bangalore, a ban on new industries in the city and setting up of the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority to coordinate development. They’ve all fallen by the wayside. During the regime of J.H. Patel, the corporation raised Rs 125 crore through bonds but the nexus between contractors and corporators meant the beautification drive would be a non-starter. The result: the local body is repaying the interest on the bonds from the principal amount.

This time around, there’s reason for hope because the government has set in motion a series of measures: the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (batf), headed by Infosys Technologies managing director Nandan Nilekani, is one. This group includes the heads of departments which are responsible for water supply, power, telecommunications, public transport, civic affairs and the city police. The decision to rope in corporates is another for, as Suresh Kumar, a city bjp legislator, points out, the tasks accepted by them have to be accomplished since non-performance could dent their image. Besides, he says "the threat of Hyderabad is looming large, as also a sense of inevitability that’s worrying young bureaucrats heading the civic bodies. It’s attributable to the awareness among corporates that some of the richest Indians hail from Bangalore; so this city shouldn’t be allowed to crumble".

The initiative has prompted ex-chief secretary T.P. Issar to volunteer to raise private funds. "We’ll ask some companies to beautify the city," says he. Besides, a batf survey shows 6 per cent of the citizens are willing to donate money to solve the city’s problems, while another 14 per cent volunteered to pay more taxes. A godsend for the corporation which has a budget of Rs 671.86 crore this fiscal. M.A. Parthasarathy, Bangalore Urban Arts Commission chairman, is optimistic about the new initiative, Bangalore Forward. "Many NGOs tried to beautify Bangalore, all suffered due to lack of coordination. This agenda has brought in techno-savvy people who have all the information at the click of a button. But there’s no clarity still about the ecological aspects."

Issar is also concerned about continuity. "A stability in the tenure of officers with proven records is a must. You heard one officer complain that his predecessors were moved once every six months."

Experts like Vinod Vyasulu, an economist who studied the city’s problems in ‘84-85, are sceptical because the Bangalore Agenda doesn’t speak about accountability. "Its credibility depends on the willingness of the minister concerned to quit if this fails. Besides, issues like corruption and hygiene which concern the common man haven’t been addressed. Also, batf has bypassed the corporators instead of seeking their involvement."

The corporators are irked at their powers being cut. "The agenda is the outcome of work done by white-collar experts for people of their stature. It’s impractical, the civic authorities don’t have the funds. We need Rs 1,000 crore every year; this can happen only if the government gives a special grant or amends laws to ensure that the corporation gets a percentage of the commercial tax, motor vehicle tax and road tax collected in the state," says Gangabhyraiah, Opposition leader in the corporation.

The factors that give rise to such scepticism are many

Besides, he has also set out to make officials citizen-friendly and to attend office regularly. The state plans to introduce electronic attendance system at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat. It has launched this system at the Bangalore Development Authority. And prior to introduction of e-governance, he has been asking officials to tackle complaints received on e-mail.

Such urbane moves could prompt a backlash from party legislators, warns Suresh Kumar. "Krishna could face a problem from ministers and mlas of other regions for similar fund allocation. He’s seen as a suave leader, what with his initiative for the IT industry and attention to problems of Bangalore. That could force him to trim down funds for the city." That could derail the plans of this "American Gowda" (as he is known for his US education) to preserve a paradise created by Kempe Gowda, a 16th century chieftain.