Bengaluru: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has stated that his government will change the face of Bengaluru in another eight months. However, urban experts argue that a firm conviction was needed for this to fructify.
Chief Minister had stated that he will work towards improving basic facilities besides building roads, underpasses and corridors while adding that over Rs 11,000 crore will be pumped for development of the city.
He also had announced plans to extend Metro up to KIAL, integration of NICE road with the Peripheral Ring Road besides working on an Israel model to find a solution to the garbage issue in the city.
Brand guru Harish Bijoor said if there is a firm conviction to do it, anything is possible and changing the face of Bengaluru in eight months is definitely a possibility.
“Brand Bengaluru needs a facelift for sure. This must, however, not be cosmetic. He needs to be rooted in real issues that are crying for a solution!” he added.
Echoing Mr Bijoor’s views, urban expert and chief enabler at Centre for Inclusive Governance, Mr Sridhar Pabbisetty said “Bengaluru can surely be streamlined and over a period of eight months, dedicated efforts by state and city administration can sur-ely make a lot of changes.”
He insisted that the comprehensive set of measures should be built on the four pillars of transparency, accountability, decentralisation of power and active citizen participation.
“A first start will be to make the Metropolitan Planning Committee come to life and ensure parastatals align their operations to the plans of MPC,” Mr Sridhar said.
He pointed out that the ward committees hold a crucial link to ensure the government gets a true feedback loop from the ground up and reminded that while these short-term plans roll out, the government should also seriously put in place a multi-year planning process and its adherence by all agencies.
A BJP leader close to CM maintained that “Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa is serious and in another eight months we can expect real results in Bengaluru. He has a no-nonsense team of officials to guide him to achieve his dream.”
Already, he has ordered for a probe into many projects which were mired in corruption, the source revealed.
