Let us involve citizens to Unlock Bangalore

Let us involve citizens to Unlock Bangalore
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


We started the Unlock Bangalore campaign hoping to get Bangaloreans to shake off all inertia and cynicism and come together to solve the city’s gargantuan traffic and road congestion problems.
The response has already gone beyond our wildest dreams. On Wednesday, this was once again overwhelmingly on display at a panel discussion on the Unlock Bangalore theme. Five eminent Bangaloreans — former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, Lok Ayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, Deccan Aviation chairman G R Gopinath, Janaagraha founder Ramesh Ramanathan and Lead India winner R K Misra — came together with almost every senior bureaucrat associated with the city’s development, industry representatives and other citizens for a spirited discussion that lasted over two hours.
As Ramanathan noted looking at the high-profile audience, “There’s a crisis. But the good news is, you (TOI) have brought so many of us together. It shows there’s a desire for change.”
If there was one message that came through consistently from every panelist, it was: the city’s problems are too big for politicians and bureaucrats alone to solve. Create a system to involve citizens in finding solutions.
Krishna, the architect of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, said: “Citizens’ involvement has to be the basis of moving forward. Without this, no matter how much we fund infrastructure, it will not work.”
Misra, who has led several successful PPP road-building ventures in the city, pleaded with the bureaucrats: “Let us help you in doing your job.”
Hegde held out a dire warning to politicians and bureaucrats: “Don’t test the patience of citizens.”