‘ FOLLOW THE NEW YORK MODEL’

‘ FOLLOW THE NEW YORK MODEL’
Problems & solutions are right here
Industry is at its wits’ end with the state of city’s infrastructure. It sees an urgent need for somebody to ‘take charge’, take measures where agencies can work in cohesion, streamline traffic flows, fill up potholes properly and build roads that last.


Bangalore has to apoliticise its system. Let us have a mayoral system the way New York does. Our current system of selecting the mayor is a joke. We need to bring in professionals to run the city.
Just look at the way the traffic system is handled. It is clear the traffic police cannot do much about it. Let us bring a professional who has designed and handled traffic systems abroad. The city’s code-writers seem to be doing enormous amount of work for streamlining traffic systems abroad. Why can’t we use this expertise in improving Bangalore’s systems?

Why can’t we get somebody like Infosys mentor Narayana Murthy to be the mayor of Bangalore? We need someone of that stature who will immediately command respect.

Today, Bangalore is an international destination but the government does not seem to realise this. Just take a look at the drainage system. There are no proper sewerages and there are open drains all over the place.

Let us try to emulate some of the systems put in place by cities like London, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. There is nothing wrong with it. Tried and tested methods are the need of the hour. Professional management can make a lot of difference.

The government is just not showing any urgency. And it is not just about IT. I keep seeing reports about the CM wanting to meet IT honchos. But the city is suffering as a whole, not just the IT crowd.

And what is KIADB doing? It has just become a real estate agency. It needs to provide companies with much more.

There has to be greater public-private partnership in developing infrastructure. A number of companies are interested in developing roads adjacent to their corporate offic%s, but they should be allowed to collect a toll fee.

Or at least they should be given tax incentives. But the government would not allow that. The state has to realise the corporate bodies cannot function like charitable organisations.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon Ltd.