Action, not words: Bangaloreans

Action, not words: Bangaloreans
Citizens Gather In Rally To Demand Better Amenities
The Times of India

Bangalore: Protests and rallies invariably end up in traffic jams, officegoers being held up and citizens cursing the protestors. Tuesday morning’s protest at the Airport Road-Intermediate Ring Road junction had none of this. Instead, school children, housewives and celebrities, all willingly joined in to throw their might behind the rallyists. To demand that the government fulfill its promises.

The protesters wore black ribbons and held placards, but there was no slogan-shouting, fist-pumping or any of the usual ruckus. The citizens instead chose to stand silently.

They had heard enough empty promises before. “The government and the civic agencies have said enough. It is time for those words to translate into action,’’ those assembled felt. The venue was symbolic: it being the site of a flyover that BDA began work on over two years ago.

The flyover was not the only focus of protest, but it served as a reminder of all half-finished projects started “to improve the city’s infrastructure,’’ said cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, who along with former chief secretary A. Ravindra, Pushpa Dravid (Rahul Dravid’s mother) among others made up the celebrity presence.

There were working people who joined the protest on way to office. There were children from New Horizon School, who stood outside their campus on 100 Feet Road holding placards that said ‘Time for action’.

Painter S.G. Vasudev echoed the children’s views. “We hear excuses every year. What kind of civic work is being done? Where is all the public money going? These are questions we have to ask,’’ he said.

The silent protest was held from 9 am to 10 am. Then, for a couple of minutes, traffic lights were switched off while the citizens converged at the junction. A huge black balloon was sent up, signatures were gathered and members of Public Affairs Centre, which spearheaded the protest took a memorandum to the CM.

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Chief minister Dharam Singh has said the pace of infrastructure development in Bangalore has been hampered by legal hassles and cost escalations. “Only 29% construction of flyovers were completed by previous government. The pace is faster now.... The Metro rail is ready to start, monorail is also under consideration.”