City agencies point fingers at one another

City agencies point fingers at one another
Wednesday September 7 2005 09:52 IST

BANGALORE: What was meant to be an interaction between utility agencies and the public on the draft of the proposed Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Bangalore City turned out to be a stage for a blame game with the heads of BWSSB, BMTC, police, BCC and BMRDA accusing one another for the sorry state of the city’s infrastructure.

For the first time the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which is responsible for revising the CDP every ten years, on Tuesday submitted the draft CDP 2015 for public review and comments. However, the plan was met with more criticism than comments at a workshop organised by the Bangalore Chamber for Industry and Commerce, with NGOs and resident welfare associations expressing their unhappiness with not just the plan, but also the lack of coordination among the different utility providers.

The projected infrastructure and water requirements of the City in 2015, when the proposed CDP will be revised again, remained the focal point of the workshop. According to an estimate, the projected population of the City will be around 12 million by 2015.

Taking a dig at the proposed CDP, MD of BMTC Upendra Tripathi alleged that the city transport department was not given enough lands for bus stations, depots and transport interchange hubs. ‘‘Our request to the BDA to acquire and provide about 20 acres of land at 12 different points is not yet met,’’ he said, adding that the proposals have not been included in the proposed CDP.

Next it was the turn of the City Police Commissioner Ajaikumar Singh to blame the BCC. Finding fault with the building byelaws, Singh expressed helplessness to control traffic. ‘‘If a 20 storey building without adequate provision for parking is allowed to come up on heavy traffic roads, no traffic constable can avoid a traffic congestion.’’.

BCC Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam, who attracted the wrath of the public, said that 300 kms of roads will be ready in the next three years.

‘‘The estimated water requirement of Bangalore by 2015 is estimated at 1,340 mld per day. At present we are pumping about 86O mld of water per day. We will be able to supply another 500 mld once the JBIC funded project is completed by 2015,’’ BWSSB chairman S.K. Pattanayak said.

The divided opinion held by the heads of agencies on the draft plan attracted severe criticism. ‘‘It looks like the master plan, has been prepared without any interaction between the civic stakeholders,’’ fumed a builder.