Public consultation, a must

Years before the steel flyover project was even conceived, civic agencies had perfected the art of pushing through unwanted road infrastructure projects without any meaningful public engagement.

Fancy infrastructure projects conceived in drawing rooms far removed from the public space. Concrete and steel behemoths with dubious utility value, designed in haste and built at leisure. Construction deadlines endlessly extended. Costs manipulated and escalated deliberately to suit powerful interests.

In a nutshell, this paints a dismal picture of how big road projects are planned and executed in Bengaluru. But what makes this inherently opaque system even more problematic is this: A complete lack of citizen participation and meaningful public consultation.The controversial steel flyover project might have brought this glaring lacuna back to the fore.

But years before the current issue hit the headlines, the state had bulldozed through vociferous public protests to build two structures: The National College flyover and the Tagore Circle underpass.

The flyover near National College had sparked an unprecedented protest from the residents.

They were aghast that nearly 50 trees, some of them over a century old, would be axed for a project that was just not necessary.

The traffic in 2004 did not justify it, nor did future projections. Ignoring strong public sentiment, the government went ahead and built the flyover. The final cost far exceeded the initial estimates.

The Tagore Circle underpass in Basavanagudi had followed the same path. It took much longer than planned to complete the underpass work.

The local residents had contended that a simple traffic light could solve the perceived congestion at the spot. Ignoring their concerns, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) relied on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) data that claimed that the Passenger Car Units (PCUs) at the spot was 11,358 per hour in 2006. Independent studies by public groups contested this claim, eventually proving that the actual average traffic volume was only 3,182 PCUs per hour even in September 2009. Obviously, the DPR had deliberately exaggerated the traffic flow to get the project approved in the Palike budget.

The obvious conclusion, as urban policy experts point out, is this: The well-oiled machinery of corrupt politicians and contractors has long perfected the art of manipulating the entire process to squeeze out their share of the project cost.

Defining problems

Theoretically, every infrastructure project should go through a set process that is transparent and easily accessible to the public, reasons civic evangelist V Ravichandar.

“The starting point should be a clear definition of the problem that needs a solution,” he explains. The next step should list out various options available, pros and cons, costs involved and the timeframe.

Once an option is chosen, it should be put in the public domain with all the data to help make informed decisions.

In reality, as Ravichandar indicates, the official system has tried to bypass public consultation through mere tokenism. So, by getting 299 email responses from the public in favour of the steel flyover project, the government says it has completed the formality. This tokenism was visible even when the public were asked to choose from the nine Metro rail routes to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

Not informed

Citizens could not make informed decision since they were not provided the relative merits and demerits of each route and land acquisition costs.

Manipulated consultation

But is this meaningful citizen’s involvement? This manipulation worked before, but not anymore, say public policy experts. With every project clinically discussed and debated in social media, the government can ill-afford to hold on to old, top-down models of decision-making, they warn.

Only a mindset change can help the state listen to and understand the genuine concerns of the people, they point out. The perception that the government knows what is best for the citizenry no longer works. Spearheaded by campaigners on multiple social media platforms, today’s public debates and protests can quickly morph into massive people’s movements. Recent protests against the steel flyover bear testimony to this growing trend.

Citizens fear the government might still win the battle in the steel flyover case. But they now feel much more empowered than before.

They feel that they are far better off than 10 years ago, when the Namma Metro alignment went over ground on MG Road, destroying the once-cherished charm of the city’s showpiece street.

They did win when the government backtracked on its plan to axe 445 trees to widen Sankey Road. The green canopy in the area was destined to disappear forever before a massive public mobilisation contested it. The citizens struggled to replicate that victory, with pamphlets and posters.