LOCKING ON TO SOLUTIONS

OCKING ON TO SOLUTIONS
A high-profile panel, top stakeholders, eminent citizens and activists got together to discuss the nagging issue of connectivity. Ideas, complaints, suggestions and resolutions followed
TEAM TOI


George Clooney’s band of experts in Ocean’s Twelve quietly moves into a swanky Las Vegas hotel armed with a clutch of keys to pick the place clean of its riches. On Wednesday, Bangalore’s own Band of Twelve, top stakeholders of Silicon Plateau, were invited by The Times of India to The Leela Palace Kempenski. Their mission was quite different: come with keys, not to steal but to help Unlock Bangalore.
The Times of India’s ongoing initiative to decongest Bangalore is addressing various connectivity issues. On Wednesday, a distinguished panel comprising former Karnataka CM S M Krishna, Lok Ayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde, Deccan Aviation executive chairman Capt G R Gopinath, Janaagraha founder Ramesh Ramanathan and Lead India initiative winner R K Misra was taken through infrastructure issues by moderator TOI Bangalore editor H S Balram.
“Public participation is the key,” stressed Krishna, kicking off the discussion on ‘What should be done to Unlock Bangalore?’ A point all panelists made in various ways and perhaps took the heat off the Band of Twelve under attack. Well, actually make it ten because S Krishna Kumar, governor’s adviser, and Dilip Rau, BBMP administrator, couldn’t be there. But, all the others responded admirably, not wilting under a barrage of criticism.
Justice Hegde recalled a pristine Bangalore before a silicon revolution swept through the city. “There was no masterplan and no anticipation of the growth,” he lamented. The scourge of corrupt officials said no profession is free of corruption and there’s been a fall in moral standards. And that’s only adding to our city’s woes.
But Ramesh Ramanathan seemed to relish the idea of an urban crisis. “The system reacts and agencies respond but there should be a desire to change,” he said. Citing the urban squalor of New York in 1906 and of London in 1912, he felt Bangalore could raise itself out of the mess we’re in. Provided public-private participation strikes root and takes off in a big way. A strategy dear to Misra’s heart. His calling card is people-government partnership and he can be rather blunt when driving home his point. But his views are striking a chord with young people who’re now realizing that they have to be the solution, not the problem.
Capt Gopinath has hit many a roadblock in his bid to put a boarding pass in every Indian’s hands. “We must work towards dismantling monopolies,” he said. “Even Istanbul has two airports,” he pointed out, asking why Bangalore can’t have two.
The audience mobbed the panelists and stakeholders after the session punctuated by the scathing wit of moderator H S Balram. Hopefully, through the Unlock Bangalore campaign and beyond, TOI will find the elusive keys and open the door to a better Bangalore.
PANELISTS
S M Krishna, former CM and senior Congress leader Justice N Santosh Hegde, Lok Ayukta Capt G R Gopinath, executive chairman, Deccan Aviation Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha founder R K Misra, Lead India initiative winner
STAKEHOLDERS
V P Baligar, principal secretary, infrastructure department S Subramanya, commissioner, BBMP Praveen Sood, addl commissioner of police, traffic & security V Madhu, MD, BMRC H Siddaiah, commissioner, BDA Upendra Tripathy, MD, BMTC M A Saleem, director, security and vigilance, KSRTC Gaurav Gupta, commissioner, Urban Land Transport Achutha Rao, police commissioner N Lakshminarayana, transport dept commissioner Moderator: H S Balram, Editor, The Times of India, Bangalore WHY DO THEY CALL IT RUSH HOUR WHEN NOTHING MOVES? — Robin Williams, comedian
Don’t allow Bangalore International Airport to become a monopoly. A private monopoly can be a monster. If I have the right to choose which paper I read and which grocery shop I go to, I should also have the choice of which airport to fly from. If airlines can compete, why not airports? Forget London and New York. Even smaller cities like Nairobi and Istanbul have multiple airports.
Capt G R Gopinath The NICE road has become such a controversy. Some time ago, IAS officers were even afraid of using the word nice. When they wanted to appreciate something, they would just say good and not nice... Voters in South Bangalore should declare that they won’t back a party that does not support the NICE road connecting Tumkur Road and Hosur Road.
R K Misra I was on a sabbatical in Mumbai for three years. Every time I met someone from Bangalore, I would ask them about the city. They would say Bangalore is fine but the traffic is impossible. Now I know what they meant... If the party I represent comes to power and if I have a say in that government, I will ensure top priority is given to citizenparticipation in government.
S M Krishna Corruption and inefficiency are two different things. Corruption seems to be a recent phenomenon. No government department and no profession is free from corruption... Any architect will hang his head in shame if he looks at the flyover on Richmond Road.
Justice Santosh Hegde On a traffic light green means go and yellow means yield, but on a banana it’s just the opposite. Green means hold on, yellow means go ahead, red means where the hell did you get that. — Mitch Hedberg