Wages of civic neglect

Death of seven people due to the collapse of the compound wall of Bowring Hospital following a hailstorm should be not merely seen as grievous loss but a civic catastrophe in a city that prides itself as the technology capital of India. Hospital is a place where people head for relief. That it should be cause of grief is not only unthinkable but unpardonable. Though the state government has announced compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for each of the dead, nothing can compensate the loss suffered by the families.

One may appreciate the action initiated by the administration against the erring officials responsible for the shoddy work—the wall was constructed only in 2020—but the city fathers need to look beyond. The first hailstorm of the season has grotesquely exposed the rickety infrastructure of the city. There are reports of several areas getting flooded, trees being uprooted, branches that needed to be lopped off being blown away by the fierce winds and creating chaos for the traffic and dismantling the power infrastructure.

That a hailstorm—quite expected at this part of the year—should paralyse a city like Bengaluru should be unthinkable, but not unexpected, given the pathetic unconcern and laxity in maintenance that characterizes the city’s governance. While grand plans are being unveiled on a daily basis to expand and transform the city into the hub of global technology, education and entertainment, nothing that would address the woes of the common people has materialized ever since the administration has been entrusted to Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

Roads are still ridden with umpteen potholes with monsoon threatening to adding more and widening the existing ones. Skyscrapers with unauthorized floors keep rising in cramped localities creating high-rise slums. Rajakaluves, once the arteries of storm-water are steadily being encroached by land mafia and the ones remaining are turning conduits for sewage let out by households that refuse to be part of the city’s sewerage system.

Several lakes have vanished from the city’s maps while the remaining ones have islands of desiccated sludge floating over them. Much of the inner roads within localities are increasingly turning into vehicle parks making the streets unnavigable. Footpaths are riddled with permanent structures of Lidkar, Hopcoms, Indira Canteens, Nandini dairies, florists, and hawkers and vendors of all kinds of wares. Senior citizens, disabled individuals, children and women face grave risk of using the roads meant for motorized vehicles.

Bus shelters provide asylum for beggars, vendors, lepers and drug-pushers. It is not that the city has not witnessed any change for the better. Mega projects such as Namma Metro, Kempegowda International Airport and Tender-sure were successfully executed during the last two decades and they carry the promise of yielding results if authorities have the will and vision to better the lot of the people. It is time to check lethargy and complacency and develop a vision to ease the rigours of common masses who have made the city their home.