September 9, 2016

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

As a guardian MP of Bengaluru, I have been a vociferous advocate of

planned, intelligent solutions for the varied problems a fast-growing metropolis like

this city faces. There is a strong need for the devolution of power to evolve

governance reforms based on citizen-centric decision making. I have been vocal

about the need for greater transparency and accountability in governance institutions

and public authorities alike.

 

We need to get out of this mess and change the direction the city is going in. The

starting point is to clearly understand why we have reached this point. We can argue

that it has been the failure of government and bureaucracy.

 

In Bengaluru, over the last 15 years, there has been a coming together of politicians,

bureaucrats, and a certain number of businesses (builders, contractors and others)

through an unholy sort of alliance. You can call them vested interests. The taking

over of policymaking by this group is at the heart of things (of where we are today).

This is the very reason why we are yet to find a multi-year city development plan.

Vested interests do not like statutory plans. They like adhocism, administrative

distribution, contracting discretions.