Orderly development needed

Orderly development needed
Vijay Times


BANGALORE Metropolitan T raffic Corporation (BMTC) managing director Upendra T ripathy has lived in Bangalore for 25 long years.

straight-forward official, who has also serve chairman of the Karnataka Pollution Control spoke about how the City was a couple of back and how it is now . The official’s love for t was evident from the suggestions he gave to improv Bangalore and needless to say , the man’s w straight from his heart.

When I landed in Bangalore in the year 1981, it was a cool, calm and poetic City . The place was famous for its altitude, climate, greenery , vernal flowers, and of course, people. I was so impressed with Lalbagh and Cubbon Park that I dreamt of days when these could be replicated as a brand elsewhere in the City and in the country .

For a moment, think of Lalbagh II in another part of Bangalore. Sounds great, right? But in the last 25 years, the City has changed a l has expanded like many other places. The 16t in the second stage of BTM Layout is an apt metaph for all the changes.

From being a lonely pathway in the late 80 place has now turned into a chaotic market.

T oday , when we look back to find out if the chan were for good or bad, we need to first be whose ’good’ or ’bad’ we are referring to. have changed and Bangalore is no exception. changes have been tough on the poor . May because the chages were not well planned and order ly .

I came across an interesting anecdote and I’d like share it with you. A survey in a western country f one particular village to be the best . T the same village was found to be the worst another survey . The transition in the status of t lage had happened because of the award.

Once the village was proclaimed as the best, touri and citizens flocked to it. This new pressu the village to crumble. W e have a lesson i dote. The management of the City is a great challe to all of us. The City’s strength, unless m can become a weakness later .

In the long run, we need orderly developmen any other well planned modern City , where dens and benefits of growth are equally sha sections of the society .

However , in the short run, we need policy makers take decisions that pertain to a variety of including managing road space during peak ho and effecting a change in the City’s plan. W e can arrange for an Indian way of carnival cele tion that coincides with a week of public Also, bold decisions like those that have been tak Jakarta, T aipei, Seoul, and Quito to discipline a monise traffic should be taken. Further , the poll must be monitored and regulated through thir ties to protect the poor and the rich from exposure-related health risks.