‘There’s no vision to develop Bangalore’

‘There’s no vision to develop Bangalore’
The Hindu

Merely increasing budgetary allocations will not do, says Krishna Byre Gowda

Bangalore: The HAL airport in Bangalore handled 8.1 million passengers last year and is expected to handle 11.6 million passengers this year, according to a reply given to Krishna Byre Gowda in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

In another report tabled in the House with reference to the international airport under construction at Devanahalli, the Government said the new airport has been designed to handle 8.4 million passengers and with expansion of certain facilities the airport could handle 11 million passengers by 2015. Further, the projection was that the number of passengers that the international airport would have to handle by 2015 would be around 11 million. In other words, the new airport at Devanahalli would handle an optimum number of passengers at the time it is opened for air traffic (April 2008).

Speaking on the demands of various departments, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said the State Government lacked vision in the development of Bangalore and that it would only be appropriate if the Government sought the advice of national or international consultants to decongest the city.

The member said life in Bangalore would come to a grinding halt if the Government did not work with a vision straightway. Merely increasing the budgetary allocations for various departments would not suffice. The Government had to seek advice and then implement a plethora of development schemes with vigour. As such, the Bangalore traffic police and officials of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike were overworked and there was no point in asking them to find ways of improving the living conditions in Bangalore.