Bengaluru Rising – an initiative envisioned to bridge the gap between the citizens and the corporators, and  to improve governance and enhance quality of life of every citizen. It urges for transparency in the civic body so that every citizen can voice his/her opinion to create a better city.

Bangalore is at the cusp of immense change and is an economic powerhouse for Karnataka and the country. But this change is also fraught with many challenges along the way. The city has witnessed an unprecedented decadal population growth of 51%  and this has led to a severe resource crunch and substandard delivery of basic services on all fronts, be it transport infrastructure, lake conservation, air quality, and ineffective waste management methods among many others.

On October 27th, facilitated a dialogue ‘Bengaluru Rising’ where the Mayor, Deputy Mayor,  several standing Committee members ,3 MLA’s, BBMP Commissioner, over 80 Corporators,  several RWA’s and citizen groups interacted face to face to find pragmatic solutions to various critical issues of Bengaluru.

This B.PAC initiative aims to encourage proactive collaboration between Corporators and citizens to improve their ward conditions, thereby setting an example for others to emulate. The newly elected council, showed great zeal and enthusiasm for wholesome development of the city. The energy displayed by the Corporators and BBMP officials was commendable and very encouraging.

In preparation to the BBMP elections B.PAC undertook a face to face survey of 10,000 citizens to understand their key priorities and expectations from BBMP. The survey serves as a good starting point for the Corporators to set priorities for their respective wards. Across 198 wards citizens unanimously felt that roads, waste management, lakes, parks and bus shelters were the top 5 issues that the BBMP must address.

Bengaluru is the front runner of Information Technology, Start Ups, Research, skill development & Education. The city is known for demonstration of citizens’ participation in good governance. B.PAC will extend all support to the newly elected BBMP corporators in finding innovative solutions to address key challenges faced by the city.”

Bengaluru city accounts for 60% of the GDP of the state and 66% of the total taxes collected and has the highest per capita income among all the metros. For Karnataka to prosper, Bengaluru must also prosper. There is a need for people centric governance. It is therefore imperative for the Government to nurture and develop the city in a manner that will attract investors and, improve quality of life and economic prosperity for its citizens.

K.Jairaj, Secretary B.PAC elaborated on the expectation from the councillors during their tenure and compared the system to four wheels of a chariot – Corporator, officials, law of the land & citizens aspirations. To experience success all four wheels should work in  perfect synchronisation, he said.

Speaking during the event, Mr Manjunath Reddy, Mayor BBMP shared his action plan and priorities that would be addressed by him during his tenure. He said his focus would be to increase revenue and improve service delivery on all the areas identified in the survey.  He also added that the problems and issues are all well-known and citizens, Government officials and elected representatives are largely aligned on the solutions to several of these issues and said that his focus would be on timely action and strong execution.

BBMP Commissioner, G Kumar Nayak agreed with this and said “BBMP is determined to implement the new contracts for waste collection and disposal against all odds. We have engaged the best legal minds to work with us on getting the stay order by High Court removed”. He also committed that he would work closely with BWSSB and citizens to resolve the lake and sewage pollution crisis in the city.

B.PAC hopes to bring to citizens periodic updates on these activities and welcomes greater participation from citizens to make Bengalureans aspirations a reality.

The program flow for the event was as follows:

• 09.30am -10.00am Registration
• 10.00am -10.10am Inaugural address -Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, President, B.PAC
• 10.10am -10.20am Vision for Bengaluru -T.V. Mohandas Pai, Vice President, B.PAC
• 10.20am -10.30am Role of a Councillor – K.Jairaj,  Secretary, B.PAC
• 10:35am-10:45am Findings of Survey results on citizens’ priorities for BBMP- Revathy Ashok,  Managing Trustee & CEO, B.PAC
• 10:50 am – 11:00 am Bengaluru Rising : My Vision  -B.N. Manjunath Reddy, Mayor, BBMP

Panel Discussions

11:00 am – 1.25 pm Discussion on

• Solid Waste Management and a plastic free city
• Lake rejuvenation, Rain water harvesting and Storm water  drain
• Finances of BBMP

Speakers for the day were:

• B N Vijay Kumar, MLA, Jayanagar AC
• Mujahid Pasha A, Chairperson,  Public Health Standing Committee,  BBMP
• Manjunatha Raj, Corporator, Kadu Malleshwaram
• S. Vishwanath, Rain water Harvesting Club
• G. Kumar Nayak, Commissioner, BBMP
• Dr. Yatish, joint Commissioner (Health & SWM)
• Ramakant S, Member, Expert committee on SWM
• N S Rama, CEO, ELCITA
• RK Misra, Director, C-SMART
• V. Ravichandar  (Moderator)