Karnataka assembly election 2018 campaign is in full swing. Media and election pundits say this assembly election is a ‘litmus test for PM Narendra Modi’. From what I recall, every assembly & by-election since May 2014 has been seen as a litmus test for the Prime Minister.
We can safely ignore the Manifesto of all parties. Nobody ever visits it back after elections. Nobody questions the govt on election promises. However, there are some groups and individuals in Bengaluru who have “worked with” the elected government to draw its attention to infrastructure problems we face on a daily basis. Kudos to these volunteers.
Over decades every government (irrespective of the party) has contributed to the growth of the state, especially Bengaluru. We are a major Knowledge IT Hub in the world today. Govt’s contribution cannot be ignored.
Elections will be held on May 12, counting on May 15. For complete coverage of Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018, click here.
The incoming government, to be sworn in May 2018, have a lot of work to do.
A deep dive into few of the topics gives a clearer picture of the pending works.
The government is missing the point, possibly they are not missing but don’t care – people spending endless hours on Bengaluru roads is a huge loss of productivity,
But the most important point everyone is missing is – our health, it is deteriorating. Unhealthy people are less productive, we work less, we earn less, you spend less. Bad for the economy, period.
At the time of writing this post, many VVIPs have been visiting Bengaluru for the election campaign. You could get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The companies on Outer Ring Road (ORR) had to form an association to get the government’s attention.
Multiple departments are involved in the completion of most infrastructure projects. We repeatedly see how things fail during the implementation of the project. Solving this is not rocket science, it requires common sense.
The road is dug up for laying water pipes, but they manage to cut electricity or phone cables. Sewage pipes are accidentally broken. These are not intentional, but due to laziness.
We are proud of our Namma Metro. The management and Metro team has done a great job in running it. Let us not forget to thank the commuters who have ensured the station and the bogies have remained clean. We don’t see graffiti anywhere. Hope it remains this way.
Metro construction due to expansion will go on in Bangalore for more than a decade. During construction, which takes 4-5 years, the traffic is bad because only one lane is made available for vehicles. Heavy vehicles ply on these roads to deliver material to metro construction workers. Roads get damaged very quickly. We cannot avoid this, but why can’t we ensure the road is well tarred by which vehicles can move faster?
When you question the contractor about the road condition they say, “Maintenance of the road is done by BBMP, we are only building the Metro”.
Other things needed are,
Authorities tend to give contracts to various contractors for completing the job,
During digging the JCB can ruthlessly cut thru the telephone, power cables. The contractor doesn’t take the responsibility of getting it fixed. Residents have to run around to get them fixed. Shouldn’t the roadworks contractor be responsible for the end-to-end implementation?
I would like to believe the government wants to get the job done without troubling the residents. The government needs to inform the residents on who we need to contact in case we need help. It needs to be communicated in a professional way.
Few important statistics of IT/BT in Karnataka (numbers could be a bit old),
We have a sufficient number of tech companies in Bengaluru. Let the new ones go to other parts of the country. Bengaluru cannot handle additional traffic and people. However, for now, we should have attracted corporates to Mysuru. We have failed miserably in our Mission Mysuru.
Andhra Pradesh & Telangana states have been proactive in attracting new corporates which could translate to a loss of thousands of jobs in Karnataka. A premier mobile company decided to start their factory in a neighbouring state because of the red tape in Karnataka. Sad. This is the case irrespective of which party is in power.
Bangalore stands 13th in terms of doing business whereas Andhra & Telangana occupied the first place. Clearly, Karnataka is unlucky.
The present government has launched a few good schemes for startups. It would be a lot more useful if the products being developed in govt sponsored incubators can be put to use in the real world. They should discourage startups which are full of buzzwords (AI, ML, Blockchain) and have nothing to show. Reason: Not all startups can expect to be a Unicorn, very few get funded.
It is not just ease of doing business not handling basic infra issues like waste management and lakes catching on fire having significantly impacted Brand Bengaluru. Having a logo for Bengaluru is nice but we need to move beyond that.
Bangalore has several Residing Welfare Associations (RWAs). Corporators, MLAs need to work closely with RWAs for building a better surrounding. I always say we cannot shift the onus completely on the government to keep our locality clean. We residents too should not throw things around.
Brand Bangalore is living on past laurels and confidence is eroding rapidly. We cannot live in the past glory, we got to make Bengaluru a better place to live in. And we should apply the learnings in other cities of Karnataka too.
A humble reminder to the party (or parties) forming the government in Karnataka in 2018 – general elections is in 2019. If you don’t show the intention to deliver in the next 8-10 months, your party will not win sufficient Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka.
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