A Ravindra
A day’s heavy rain is all that is required to expose the state of dysfunctionality of our cities. The chaos that followed the recent downpour in Bengaluru and Gurugram (Gurgaon) has once again brought to the fore the urban crisis we are facing. While we take pride in a rapidly urbanising India adding to the country’s GDP, the cities continue to groan under the weight of a collapsing infrastructure and a malfunctioning administration.
We are paying the price for ignoring our towns and cities for well over half a century after independence. We have reached a stage where we are caught in a bind – we need to move fast to first save our cities but it takes time to build hard infrastructure and provide the required level of civic services.
While there are no quick-fix solutions, firefighting becomes inevitable in emergency situations. You need to cover the potholes, clear the muck in the drains and plug the leakage in water pipes. But the question is whether you should go on doing this year after year making it a recurring phenomenon.
There is no dearth of schemes to renew the urban areas or make our cities smart. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission aimed at rejuvenating about 60 cities in the country at a cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. Only about half the amount was invested with uncertain results, though it did provide an impetus to urban infrastructure development.
The new Smart Cities Mission is a very ambitious project to transform about 100 cities and the Atal Mission seeks to rejuvenate another 500 cities. These are all well intentioned schemes but the real problem with our cities lies elsewhere.
Under the constitution, urban development is a state subject and governing a city is the job of the local government. Even Centrally sponsored schemes or internationally funded projects are to be implemented at the city level. The responsibility of planning and execution therefore lies with the city institutions, be it the municipal corporation or a development authority or water supply board. Urban administration in India suffers from two basic weaknesses: the lack of local financial resources and the lack of institutional capacity.
Most of the urban local bodies depend on government grants to run their day-to-day administration and on loans for executing capital works. Very little provision is made in the municipal budget for proper maintenance of capital assets. Hence, the potholes, the leaking pipes, the uncleared garbage and the pending bills of contractors. Limited technical and managerial capacity of the officials is another cause for concern.
While planning and institutional reforms are essential for sustainable solutions, it is necessary to take certain emergent measures to arrest further damage to the city and its citizens. In the context of Bengaluru, there is no use blaming the BBMP, knowing its state of affairs.
As the state government still calls the shots in all city matters, it must shed its lackadaisical attitude and come to grips with the situation. The first step is to appoint a minister for Bengaluru Development and make him fully responsible to deliver the goods. He must be a person with no personal interests in the city particularly relating to real estate and carry necessary credibility.
A Bengaluru Crisis Management Group (BCMG) comprising all city MLAs and the mayor must be set up with a clear mandate to deal with matters requiring urgent attention. An advisory group consisting of domain experts (not IT and business leaders) must render technical assistance to the Group. Such an arrangement will ensure the democratic character of decision-making backed by professional advice.
The BCMG will prepare an Emergency Action Plan to be executed within a specified time of about 15 months (say, September-October 2016 to December 2017). I am consciously suggesting this period as the legislators and the entire political class will get busy with elections to the State Assembly from the beginning of 2018.The Plan will spell out the priorities. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Maintenance and regulation
The issues to be tackled on emergency basis are self-evident: 1) thorough cleaning of storm water drains, 2) restoring damaged roads; ensuring potholes don’t recur, 3) prompt clearance of garbage, 4) reducing traffic congestion by proper enforcement of traffic regulations and, 5) preventing illegal constructions and encroachments which cause environmental problems. These are non-glamorous functions pertaining to maintenance and regulation, not big projects. But they make lot of difference to the daily life of the citizen and smooth functioning of the city.
(The writer is former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka)
