Time to wake up, experts tell govt

Time to wake up, experts tell govt

The Times of India

BANGALORE: The aim was to force the government to wake up and ‘do something' about the infrastructural needs of Bangalore.

The focus was on the government's ineffectiveness to improve infrastructure and make Bangalore a ‘world city'. Other critical issues like power and water shortage faced by citizens were discussed too.

The occasion: a seminar on ‘Infrastructure and the city: focus on Bangalore' on Thursday. The discussions dwelt on governance framework, civic administration, roads and public transport, housing and social infrastructure. The participants hoped their recommendations would help prompt the state and central governments to take swift action on infrastructure development.

The talk was organised by Infosys Technologies and a television company, bringing together eminent citizens, corporates and of course government representatives to discuss and arrive at an action plan to improve infrastructure here and in other metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

The participants were industries minister P.G.R. Sindhia; Bob Hoekstra, CEO, Philips Software Centre; Mohandas Pai of Infosys; Samuel Paul, director, Public Affairs Centre; Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha; Ashok Kheny, MD, Nandi Infrastructure; K.K. Swamy, DMD, Toyota Kirloskar Motor; S. Sadagopan, Dean, Indian Institute Of Information Technology.

A similar meet was held in New Delhi, on December 2, 2004 with Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit inaugurating the discussion. The Infrastructure and the City forums will travel throughout the country to all major metropolitan cities, in an attempt to bring together citizens, representatives of concerned corporates and government representatives who genuinely make a difference to the cities infrastructure. The forums will be part of the ongoing effort at maintaining active dialogue between various stakeholders in a city. These dialogues will be structured around sub-themes specific to the city.