BATF was catalyst of change: members

BATF was catalyst of change: members
The Times of India


Deve Gowda’s dig: What kind of work has the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) done? Has it kept up its promises for Bangalore’s development?
The BATF replies: BATF is not about funding infrastructure or subsidising the government, but about bringing a paradigm shift at the way the government works and entering into a partnership model with the government.

Says member Kalpana Kar: The idea of BATF was not to substitute bureaucrats, but to use some successful corporate strategies to build the city’s infrastructure. BATF was about a partnership that enabled sustainable change by building bus shelters, Nirmala Bangalore toilets, crematoria. It became the instrument of change.

Deve Gowda is right when he says that some corporates did not deliver promises. What BATF was attempting was to bring a set of norms in government functioning, by creating monitoring mechanism and setting standards, she added.

Ramesh Ramanathan, another member, says calling BATF a failure is subjective. It had a good record of catalysing change with service providers it worked with.

Jaipur visit: Ramanathan, also Rajasthan government’s adviser on urban reforms, says he only mentioned that there are some urban reforms happening at Jaipur. What Gowda has said (on officials going there to check out) is reasonable.

Karnataka has done a fair amount of work in rural and urban areas, but what is being proposed is to take it to the next level. “Karnataka could be a leader in this. Doing this would clearly require political will.’’