Citizens put ABIDe on mat

Citizens put ABIDe on mat

July 13th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Bengaluru, July 12: Is the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) constitutionally valid? This poser was presented to ABIDe task force vice-chairman H.N. Ananth Kumar, convenor Rajeev Chandrasekhar and MPs D.B. Chandre Gowda and P.C. Mohan on Sunday at a public consultation organised by ABIDe for feedback.
The blanket ban on the issue of khata, the delay in holding BBMP elections and the poor infrastructure in the city were other issues on which ABIDe was put on the mat by the citizens. Vinay Srinivasan, of Jayanagar, questioned the constitutional validity of ABIDe. Mr H.N.Ananth Kumar said ABIDe is a task force set up under the chairmanship of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to give suggestions to develop the city. However, the recommendations put forth by ABIDe are subject to approval in the Council. Since BBMP cannot frame rules on its own, an expert body like ABIDe is doing the needful.
The state government is preparing to hold BBMP polls as per the high court’s directions and an affidavit has been submitted before the court, he said. ABIDe members were at the receiving end when people questioned them on the state government’s inability to provide better infrastructure and the logic behind organising consultation programmes after submitting the vision document 2020 on citizen-centric governance, urban transportation and Bengaluru heritage, to the state government. Obviously, the recommendations cannot be incorporated in the vision document, participants said.
Muralidhar Rao, a participant, opposed the idea of setting up a 500 MW dedicated power plant in Bengaluru and said transporting fuel for the purpose will be difficult. Instead, transmission and distribution losses should be minimised. A representative of Bangalore East Swabhimana Initiative said BBMP and the BDA must be vigilant and avoid encroachments on government property. Preventing encroachment is better than demolishing illegal buildings later, he said.
Mr Subramanya said BBMP’s promise to solve problems lodged with the control room on telephone number 22660000 within 24 hours is still a distant dream.