It is a matter of concern for all Bangaloreans

EXPERT OPINION
It is a matter of concern for all Bangaloreans
DR SURESH BALAKRISHNAN
Deccan Herald

It would be naïve to take a parochial view and dismiss today's controversy about industry participation in IT.com as one that concerns only some IT companies and the government. We need to see through this "smoke" about IT.com and get to the more dangerous but less visible "fire" in Bangalore, being fed by a volatile cocktail of rapid growth, high expectations, inadequate planning and failure to walk the talk.

An event like IT.com is not just a jamboree where the latest gizmos are on display; it is a showcasing of results and options by the state and industry and more important, a vision statement for the future. While this is an opportunity for industry to promote its products and services, it is also the place where the state government outlines its promises of support, and projects the work of participating companies to validate its commitments and past achievements.

Various governments have done much to incubate the IT industry And, the IT companies have drawn resources from across the world to grow rapidly. The survival of many of these companies depends on continuous rapid growth, for which infrastructure and enabling policies are critical. But, the speed at which public infrastructure grew, to keep a fledgling sector "well fed", has become inadequate to support a more mature and larger industry. This is where the IT companies find themselves in a difficult situation - on the one hand, they are seen as ungrateful children snapping at the hand that fed them, while on the other, they have to ask for more of what had been promised. Are IT companies asking for more than what is reasonable?

The role of the state government has had its pluses and minuses. Studies by the Public Affairs Centre have highlighted serious constraints in infrastructure, the continuing presence of the dreaded red tape and thriving corruption that the private sector, including IT companies, encounters in the state, which largely explains why only a small part of promised investment materializes. While much has been done for creating a conducive policy environment and improving infrastructure in recent years, the bigger question now is about how much more of urban growth in Bangalore is the state willing to invest in. In the aftermath of the recent Assembly election, much has been written about the urban-rural divide. Does the state government feel that it has supported enough of urban growth and IT sector for now?

Unfortunately, the polemics have deflected attention from the biggest stakeholder — the common citizen. Infrastructure is of concern not only to the IT industry, but also to the rest of the city too.

Why does this city, which residents rated so well in last December's Citizen Report Card, now find itself in this mess?

Residents are less vocal, but the rumblings are getting louder day by day. Crowded streets mean longer hours on the BMTC bus and incomplete sewage lines and run down roads threaten pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. Better roads in cities that receive heavier rains are testimony to the fact that blaming the rains is a lame excuse for poor quality of public works.

It is also hard for the common man to believe that money that was available to carry out these basic civic functions last year is missing this year. While the demands on the IT corridor may not be a priority for all residents of the city, there is no doubt that the bad roads and incomplete flyovers are a concern for all Bangaloreans!

It is certainly reasonable on the part of residents of Bangalore to expect the Mahanagara Palike and the state government to keep the existing infrastructure in decent condition; and also to complete the projects they initiate in reasonable time with good quality. When responses to these issues come in terms of rhetorical defensive statements, rather than confidence building through rapid and visible corrective action, collective action is the only recourse.

Finally, Is the day of reckoning for Bangalore's honeymoon with the IT sector closer than we expect? Have the needs of the sector outgrown what Bangalore can offer? Or will continued support for the IT sector have adverse political outcome leading to a backlash on the lines of what happened to industry in West Bengal several decades back? There is much at stake in the answers to these whispered questions, which have started making the rounds in Bangalore.

Dr Suresh Balakrishnan is Fellow, IIM (Ahmedabad) & Executive Director, Public Affairs Centre.