Bengaluru blues, familiar tunes

ROVING REFLECTIONS

D K Shivakumar, Congress strongman and the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, recently said “even god” cannot fix the terrible roads of Bengaluru. Infrastructure in the city – often celebrated for its ‘global’ credentials – has remained a casualty through the terms of successive governments led by the Congress, the BJP, and the JD(S). Potholes and flooded roads have become markers of the breakdown. Pedestrians are never accorded their due priority in planning. The city’s broken and encroached footpaths accentuate the story.

Shivakumar said in another forum that a “mafia” controlled Bengaluru’s garbage contracts, and it was impossible to keep the city clean unless this network was banished. Yes, the Bengaluru Development minister has inherited these problems, but when the most powerful man in the present government throws in the towel and says Bengaluru is beyond redemption, who do the people turn to for redress?

At a dinner that I hosted for friends recently, the topic of conversation turned invariably to the city’s traffic and how the system has failed in its approaches to the problem. A former commissioner of the Corporation summed it up, in Kannada: “hale kallu, hosa billu” (same stones, but new bills). The cynicism was hard to miss.

When prominent corporate leaders such as Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw take to social media to highlight Bengaluru’s traffic snarls and piling garbage, leaders of the neighbouring states see opportunity – their standard response has been “invitations” extended for relocation to companies in Bengaluru. What about the state government, then? Sure, ministers take offence when the city’s ‘image’ takes a hit on the national and global stage, but is there real soul-searching? Does this relentless criticism also spark fresh intent aimed at reform?

Bengaluru has, for long, turned to its inherent advantages to remain a favoured destination for investment and migrant talent: it has a strong business and startup ecosystem, a cosmopolitan ethos, vibrant social and cultural spaces, high-quality healthcare and educational institutions, and a welcoming people. But when mounting stress on the city’s infrastructure takes a toll on time-bound productivity, and on life itself, relocation may become a serious consideration for the companies.

Strengthening Bengaluru’s public transport systems, specifically by extending the Metro lines and expanding the bus fleet, is the way forward. Crowded global cities have shown how mass public transit can meet the rush at reduced environmental costs. In Bengaluru, credit is due to successive governments that have backed the Metro.

The social media outrage is set against the backdrop of a binary – underperforming, unresponsive governments vs the middle and upper classes that demand efficient systems and accountability. Millions, however, are separated from this discourse: construction labourers, factory workers, plumbers, masons, electricians, carpenters, employees in hotels, spas, and salons, house helps, street vendors, and others who constitute the city’s shadow economy. For them, public transportation is not one of the multiple commute options to tick – it is the only option they have.

In our society today, one plucks what is not his, another distributes, yet another partakes. We are all often beneficiaries of the corrupt system; we are all culpable, and no one feels accountable. Our political leaders have a fair point when they note that criticism aimed only to malign is not constructive. Urban planning is weighed down by entrenched inefficiencies, corruption, and conflicting interests – a system no leadership has marked for serious reform. Shivakumar may have bared his soul in sharing his despair and helplessness, but those who get elected to govern the state and civil servants who hold office to administer cannot react like the public.

Hope is the invisible fuel of life. And if the youth and the masses are robbed of hope, it portends ill for our society. There are warning signs from India’s neighbourhood, where dissent is toppling apathetic political systems. The discontent was simmering; it’s just that no one paid heed.

It is tempting to look at the inevitability of it all through Bob Dylan’s lines:

“Yes, and how many ears must one man have/ Before he can hear people cry?/ Yes, and how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows/ That too many people have died?/ ...The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/ The answer is blowin’ in the wind”

(The writer builds bridges, sometimes by tearing down walls. He is a soldier, farmer, and entrepreneur.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.