Political will needed to make TDR popular

Political will needed to make TDR popular
Deccan Herald

Where there is political will, there is a way. Is this, or more rightly put, the lack of it, that explains the lukewarm response to the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) scheme that the BMP announced for its road widening project?

Till now, no chief minister, from S M Krishna, Dharam Singh to H D Kumaraswamy, has taken an initiative to support the TDR scheme. Poised against these political leaders are former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and present CM YSR Reddy, who according to Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) sources, gave complete freedom to municipal authorities to enforce the scheme. Nearly 31 roads were completed within three years of introducing TDR, and 55 roads have been earmarked for road widening this year in Hyderabad. Meanwhile in Bangalore, road works are yet to begin, even a year after the scheme was launched.

Mr P K Mohanty, former Commissioner of MCH who has been instrumental in introducing TDR, firmly asserts that it is the active participation of political leaders that is making TDR successful in Hyderabad. According to him, non-interference by political big-wigs and providing complete powers to MCH worked tremendously in their favour. “When we started implementing the project, there was no political influence of any kind. They realised that infrastructure should be given top priority. This helped us in tackling building violations and acquiring land through TDR,” he says. Mr D Reddy, a senior MCH official, suggests that politicians in Hyderabad are in fact getting political mileage by supporting TDR.

“Corporators here are seeing political opportunity in this scheme. There have been instances where the corporators themselves have persuaded people to part with their land. Some corporators even complain when we do not widen roads in their wards. Road widening efforts have won goodwill for the political leaders here,” Mr Reddy says.

Contrary to this, a former BMP Commissioner reveals that there is lack of knowledge and commitment on the part of elected representatives towards TDR and road widening in Bangalore. “The BMP has to sell the idea of the TDR scheme in partnership with the government. This is not happening mainly because such schemes are difficult to implement in a coalition set-up. Also, the corporators, guided by short-term gains, want to protect their vote banks,” he elaborates.

A strong message from all political parties can change the future of TDR, he feels. “When there is political will, people will take it seriously. Even procedural problems are eased when there is political support,” he added. Perhaps it is time for ministers to look up and take note.