Can Karnataka's new minister save the state from further rot?
It took Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah two-and-a-half-years to appoint a minister for the development of Bangalore! With another two-and-a-half-years left for the Congress government to show some real work in the IT capital of the nation, which is in a very bad shape in terms of infrastructure and civic services, the expectations from the minister KJ George are high. He has to guide Bangalore for the next 30 months under the Congress rule and has plenty of tasks on hand. Whether he delivers or withers like the other Congress ministers will be known by mid-2017.
First, Siddaramaiah's choice appears to be more of a political compromise, as he wanted to accommodate his detractor G Parameshwara in a better position in the cabinet. George, who had been the home minister since 2013, was forced to make way for Parameshwara and the former suddenly found himself demoted. George has not expressed his anguish in public so far, but neither has he revealed his vision for Bangalore. Maybe the minister wants more time to understand the city before making his mission statement.
Second, the minister for Bangalore was announced only after the private sector, especially the IT sector, investors and foreign consulate officers made a noise at the national level on the crumbling infrastructure of the city.
Maybe by holding on to the Bangalore city development portfolio, the chief minister thought he would help consolidate the city's position at the global level. But alas! Under him, Bangalore further slipped down the ranking with basic services, such as garbage clearance, sanitation, health services and public infrastructure hitting the nadir. The biggest contribution of Siddaramaiah has been six-eight hours of power cut every day, a new record in the last two decades for Bangalore. And now, we have an unrelenting George. Will he at least address the issues affecting Bangaloreans on a priority basis?
The foremost task for George is to streamline the garbage clearance in Bangalore by taking the Greater Bengaluru City Corporation (GBCC) under his wings. The city has a Congress mayor and George should in fact be speeding up the matter. Bangalore is soon running out of sanitary landfill sites and environment-conscious farmers are not permitting the GBCC to create new waste dumps on the outskirts of the city. Bangalore generates nearly 5,000mt of waste every day and with the population growth projections, the government simply cannot afford to dump them in wastelands. George has to quickly call all those entrepreneurs and scientists, who demonstrated the capability to convert waste into useful by-products or dispose them in a scientific manner.
Next, he has to tackle the power crisis. Right from industrialists to students are complaining of the pathetic power scenario in the city, but Siddaramaiah has remained thick-skinned. Since 1996 (almost 20 years), Bangalore has not suffered like this because of power cuts. He did not even deem it fit to lock a power project dedicated to supply electricity to Bangalore all these years. Had he approved a thermal power plant in 2013, by now, the city wouldn't be facing this situation. Will George at least show some interest in getting a dedicated power plant for Bangalore?
The vehicular traffic in the city has increased several manifold in the absence of an efficient public transportation system. While the much-hyped Namma Metro (Bangalore Metro) is behind schedule by two years, the intra-city bus transport has not been able to cope up with the demand. As a consequence, the vehicular speed during peak hours is not more than 6kph in the central business districts.
The road infrastructure has gone from bad to worse with over 3,000 accountable potholes and craters dotting the arterial roads. While two-wheeler riders continue to die after falling into potholes, the GBCC stays away from the issue. Similarly, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has not allotted a single residential plot in the last three years while housing prices have inflated.
In all, the Congress government has demonstrated that it lacks the willpower to place Bangalore among the top investment hubs. Will George follow in the footsteps of Siddaramaiah or prove Banagloreans wrong?