Unsafe city, thanks to civic agencies

Though a substantial portion of the state’s budget is allotted to Bengaluru every year with the now-cliched promise of making it a world-class city, the city is in a shambles. Civic authorities that work at cross-purposes have made living in the city a nightmare.

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bengaluru has recorded the most number of deaths of citizens due to the negligence of civic authorities, a record that it has held consistently for at least three years. While only three such incidents were reported in 2018, the number rose to 49 in 2019. In 2022, it accounted for half of all such incidents across India.

Most of these cases are due to the absence of footpaths or their encroachment forcing pedestrians to walk on the roads, deadly potholes or other causes, like electrocution.

Of course, these are just specific cases in negligence can be pinpointed and cause and effect established. But the overall state of infrastructure visibly creates an ‘ambience’ of dangers at every step.

A number of pothole-related deaths go unreported as they are conveniently blamed on the negligence of drivers. Recently, a young mother and her toddler were electrocuted when the woman stepped on a live power line lying on a footpath.

This, even as crores of rupees have been invested in making Bengaluru a ‘Smart City’. Not surprisingly, Bengaluru also tops the list when it comes to cases filed against civic bodies for negligence.

Bengaluru has over the years largely been designed for private vehicles, with little importance given to public transport, cyclists or pedestrians. While footpaths have been provided in some new roads, in most areas they have been rendered virtually useless as they are either badly designed or poorly maintained, or both.

While BESCOM claims that 95 per cent of the work on bringing power cables underground is complete, high-tension lines continue to hang overhead in many parts of the city. The less said the better about the state of over 100 villages that were merged with Bengaluru some time ago. 

Bengaluru’s bane is the civic agencies working in silos, with there being no single authority for all of them to report into. Thus, each body gets away by blaming another for the woes of the city.

Bengaluru needs an umbrella organisation with control over all civic agencies to ensure that it grows in a planned way and becomes a safe city to live in.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the minister for Bengaluru, has announced grandiose plans to enhance the ‘brand value’ of the city. Of what use are these mega schemes to citizens unless the city gets the basics right first?