‘ABIDe meeting mere formality’

‘ABIDe meeting mere formality’

Staff Reporter
The discussions, an ongoing process, are essential: Ananth Kumar
— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

HAPPY MOMENT: MP and Vice-Chairman of ABIDe H.N. Ananth Kumar with commissioners and secretaries of various departments at a meeting in Bangalore on Sunday.
Bangalore: The public consultation meeting organised to discuss the recommendations of the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) Task Force left many people dissatisfied.

The meeting, that saw discussions on regional governance, road, traffic management and transport and heritage, was organised at a time when the Government is considering the task force’s recommendations. It is also likely to introduce legislation based on the recommendations soon.

Bangalore South Lok Sabha Member and ABIDe Vice-Chairman H.N. Ananth Kumar, who chaired the meeting, claimed that several development works had been taken up based on the recommendations of the task force.

The Chief Minister, with the objective of making Bangalore a world-class city, has allocated Rs. 7,000 crore in the Budget.

He said that to meet the energy needs of the city, a 5,000-MW power plant would be set up. Speaking to The Hindu later, he said that the city’s energy requirement is huge.

“We need a futuristic approach to solve the city’s growing energy needs. Details such as a location, type of plant, fuel, etc., will be assessed and worked out by experts based on the techno-economic feasibility.”

BBMPOne
Mr. Ananth Kumar said that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had envisaged setting up of BBMPOne, on the lines of BangaloreOne, in the 198 wards in the city.

This initiative would be launched in a few months. The civic authority’s existing help centres would later work as referral centres.

Chief Minister’s Advisor (Urban Development) A. Ravindra favoured setting up of the Urban Metropolitan Planning Committee to bring all civic authorities under one umbrella. He was for increasing the Mayoral term to five years and greater coordination between various civic agencies. Stressing the need for having ward committees chaired by corporators concerned, Mr. Ravindra said it should comprise members elected from the public as well as those nominated.

R.K. Mishra, ABIDe member, spoke about decongesting roads and making important junctions signal-free, while Ashwin Mahesh, another member, spoke about preserving the city’s heritage and creating awareness among the people.

Later, residents of the city spoke about the recommendations made to the Government.

One member in the audience questioned the “constitutional validity” of ABIDe. However, officials clarified that the Chief Minister was the chairman of ABIDe, which is only a recommendatory body.

Vinay Sreenivasa, a resident of Shantinagar, alleged that the public interaction was a “farce”.

“The ABIDe task force has admitted that the recommendations have been submitted to the Government. The public consultation programme should have been held before the recommendations were submitted,” he said.

Mr. Ananth Kumar, however, maintained that the discussions were essential.

“This is an ongoing process. The suggestions made by the people will be included in the Vision Paper of ABIDe. We are seeking citizen’s inputs to refine the recommendations further,” Mr. Ananth Kumar said.

A series of similar public consultation meetings will be held.

ABIDe Convenor and MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar, and MPs P.C. Mohan and D.B. Chandre Gowda and MLAs B.N. Vijaya Kumar and L.A. Ravi Subramanya were present.