‘Citizens must continue their protests relentlessly’

PEOPLE POWER
‘Citizens must continue their protests relentlessly’
Times of India

Question of the week
In the past few days, Bangaloreans have protested against inadequate civic amenities. But the administration simply throws up its arms saying it’s helpless. How can we make the authorities work?

People Speak:

We can make the authorities work provided we have the following data: i) the number of houses in the area; ii) total tax collected from the area; iii) areawise work to be discussed with the residents’ welfare associations for implementation along with quality of work specified; iv) residents’ welfare associations should supervise the work and the payment should be made only after they give their approval; v) government support for organisations like BATF and Janaagraha, thereby ensuring people’s participation in the BCC.
M.N. Kesari, Vijaynagar, Bangalore

The area engineers are responsible; they should inspect the roads regularly and do the necessary work. Public awareness is a must and quality of work should be checked by the area corporator and the MLAs. The work should be carried out before the monsoon.
Sajjan Raj Mehta, Mamoolpet, Bangalore

The people’s protest is a one-day war; they are not keeping up a constant pressure on the authorities. The long-suffering public should target their corporator first.
Hemant Urs, Basaveshwaranagar, Bangalore

Force the authorities to travel along the pothole-ridden roads. Citizens must continue their protests relentlessly. Resorting to violence is not the answer.
Usha G. Rao, BSK III Stage, Bangalore

We have to pressurise the authorities again and again to fix the problems. They should not be allowed to do piecemeal work but lay a fresh road.
Nitika Singh, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore

Town planning should be the priority with representatives from all departments concerned. Drainage, roads and pavements should be given priority. We should ensure that civic work is done properly.
Leina Malhotra, Indiranagar, Bangalore

The government is only giving speeches but not doing any work. We have elected them to work, not for lengthy and empty speeches. If they don’t care for the welfare of the people, we must unite and demand for the accounts of the tax we have paid. They must work or quit. Just as people have the power to elect a government, they should have the power to remove it too.
Vimala Kesari, Vijaynagar, Bangalore

Residents’ association and citizen forums should move the judiciary to seek relief for damage and force the administration to act. If the administration does not act, the people should refuse to co-operate in Gandhian fashion, say be refusing to pay taxes.
S. Sundara, R.R. Nagar, Bangalore

The condition of Bangalore’s roads shows the lack of responsibility of the administration. A public memorandum should be sent to the respective offices. The authorities should be strict so that the area corporators and engineers take up tasks to fill potholes and handle infrastructure problems as and when required. The quality of the work should be ensured.
Kamaluddin Ahmed, BTM Layout, Bangalore

Authorities should use dana, veda and danda on irresponsible field staff. Such staff should be sacked. Common public interest should be upheld.
B.V. Jayakumar, V.C. Farm, Mandya

Residents should be involved in supervising work; or else the authorities will never do the work properly. Housewives and residents should be given powers to complain against erring contractors.
H.V. Suman, BTM Layout, Bangalore

Authorities should be held accountable. They should address the problems of roads, potholes and sanitation.
Veeraraj Urs, Basaveshwaranagar, Bangalore

Potholes, bad roads and shoddy management aren’t a problem in Bangalore alone. It is a problem of the nation. We are very selfish and do not deserve democracy. We should take direct action; protests alone will not work.
Rajesh Gupta, Koramangala, Bangalore

We can make authorities work by educating the people about civic sense and the facilities we deserve. We should be brave enough to ask the authorities to provide them. People are not approaching them due to lack of education or indifference.
Shetty Gowda, Palace Guttahalli, Bangalore

On each road there should be a board indicating the engineer’s name and telephone number. If repair is not carried out within 48 hours, they must be fined and the fine collected must be: AE: 50 per cent, AEE: 30 per cent, EE: 10 per cent and SE: 5 per cent. And 5 per cent from the work engineer. The most responsible person is a AE. There should be an NGO committee with a retired engineer and two others and the engineers should heed their word. The report of such committees should be binding and final.
A.C. Sriramaiah Shetty, Mahalakshmi Layout, Bangalore

A social boycott of all politicians at all functions and inaugurations may force them to deliver. This is what the general public can do. Reason: not everyone is Azim Premji to command and get things delivered.
Ravikumar B.V., Basavangudi, Bangalore

The authorities should be made accountable, not to another government body, but to a civic body and should really work under pressure of completing work. It should be made mandatory that all authorities should get their project plan vetted by at least two or three civic bodies that will validate the plan and programme. If people can plan for their retirement, why can’t the government plan for one year? Accountability in a structured manner, confirming to a system and process and ruthless management can save this city.
Ananth Padmanabhan, recd via email

Administration of civic bodies should be handed over to the military for at least two years so that things can be speeded up.
D.S. Manjunatha, recd via email

We are not right in blaming the government always without doing our duty as citizens. A lot of problems like littering, water management, power management and traffic congestion can be alleviated if the citizens are involved constructively. The government should spend some of its time and money in making the people aware that the solutions are in our own hands. Until this happens, I don’t think we will go anywhere.
Sujeet Nayak, recd via email

EXPERT SPEAK

There are certain myths that need to be dispelled: there is not enough money to meet all Bangalore needs; taking the matter to the state government is going to help; it is all the government’s fault; Bangalore’s problems cannot be solved. There is no way a complex city like Bangalore can be run without decentralisation of management to the ward-level and complete citizen involvement. Citizen participation, the norm in rural government, is not being allowed in urban government. The BCC is not a department of the state government and instead of the Chief Minister, the BCC controls Bangalore’s destiny. Including property tax, building licences, trade licences, parking and advertising, Bangalore can generate at least Rs 750 crore more every year — enough to meet all the city’s development needs. The problem is that compliance is low. It’s time we realised that we are part of the problem and the solution.
Ramesh Ramanathan, founder, Janaagraha

If Bangalore is to become a better city, its community and citizens need to participate. For this, community voices need to be given legitimacy in the government. Otherwise, the government’s promise of having citizens’ participation sounds entirely hollow. We have several groups working towards bettering Bangalore but we need to have an equity between them and the government. The latter cannot take the credit without giving legitimacy to citizens. Our government needs to reciprocate by acknowledging citizen participation.
Ashish Sen, director, Voices