Chief Secretary resumes fortnightly meeting to review infrastructure works

A high-powered interdepartmental meeting – chaired by the chief secretary on a fortnightly basis – is back after a gap of one-and-half-years. Such coordination meetings, which were stopped during the tenure of P Ravi Kumar, has resumed after Vandita Sharma took over as the administrative head of the state. Large infrastructure works, including projects monitored by the high court, are usually on the agenda of these meetings.

At least ten projects or issues had featured in the last meeting held on July 6 under the chairmanship of CS where stakeholders from departments like traffic police, BESCOM, Smart City, BWSSB etc were present. This is also one such meeting where representatives from as many as 18 departments come under one roof to review Bengaluru’s infrastructure development.

Three subjects - which are currently being heard by the high court - had come up for discussion in the last meeting. Chief secretary directed the BBMP to continue pothole-filling work even during the monsoon, conduct a meeting with OFC service providers to free the city from overhanging cables and submit a report on the number of stormwater drain (SWD) encroachments removed by the next meeting.

A discussion was also held to take stock of Bengaluru’s traffic situation. Vandita Sharma directed city traffic police to submit a report on what measures will be taken to ease the traffic movement in major junctions. The condition of a pedestrian subway in the city and the transfer of land for the construction of a link road from Bannerghatta main road was discussed.

The meeting, however, did not feature the implementation of a Rs 6,000-crore grant provided by the state government, Rs 1,500-crore grant earmarked for the construction of stormwater drains, long-pending flyovers or underpasses, poor condition of footpaths, delayed implementation of 15th Finance Commission or Shubra Bengaluru grants etc.

An interdepartmental coordination meeting, which was regularly held during the term of T M Vijay Bhaskar, were stopped after P Ravi Kumar took charge as the CS. Kumar said such meetings should be held at the level of additional chief secretary of Urban Development Department or at BBMP Chief Commissioner’s level. Co-ordination meetings were considered important as the city has not had an elected council since September, 2020.

Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh said such meetings must also be held at the zonal level. “Just like ward committees, the zonal committee meetings should be given prominence. It is practically impossible for the chief secretary to review all major cities of the state. The need of the hour is to activate city level governance,” he said. Public involvement can make zonal meetings strong, he added.