Malgudi series - 5
Yes ...Bangalore is choking , its population was a meagre 4.1 million in 1991 and now it is close to 10 million ! Thanks to the explosion of opportunities in the last two decades, more specifically last decade. As per the 2001 census bangalore had 5.1 million residents and look now !
Historically bengaluru was never been a centre for job opportunities when you look from national perspective, mumbai was ( is) , Kolkatha was, Delhi was (is), Pune was ( is ), Chennai was. Bangalore's sudden outburst in the last decade is phenomenal and also a cause of great concern. Each new member of the city commands a space for him, a dignified and hassle free life.
When the immigration as evident in the last decade becomes so much the authorities have to act fast building infrastructure like roads, pathways, providing water , transportation, security etc; Probably the best cities in the world must not have seen such an inflow of people in the last decade like bangalore !
The no of people immigrated to bangalore in the last decade is greater than the overall population of Singapore, which is 5.4 million in an area of 718 km2, but the land area is more or less same as bangalore ! How about that ? If the situation is like this and the growth is not linear but exponential, planning and implementation is inadequate, the city naturally chokes !
Nearly half of bangalore relies on underground water for its livelihood and these are the areas where population density is more, for example Whitefield, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Sarjapur road etc; because of their close proximity to IT hubs and other business parks. The density of Apartments are also more here and are not connected by cauvery water ! This makes it a challenging scenario for its inhabitants who face water problems on one side and Traffic problems on the other with high pollution levels ! Commuting to office and back home takes 4 hours per day on an average, which is very high on national standards but pathetic on international standards !
And still Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities of the world, still maintains a high in flow of aspirants, start up activities, still generates jobs but lacks law enforcement ! Nearly 90 percent of its apartments are not as per plan and hence do not possess Completion and Occupancy certificate and hence are illegal ! 50 percent of the areas do not have water as part of the public distribution system and rely greatly on Tankers ! Roads in high revenue generating areas like ITPL, Ring road, Sarjapur,Whitefield are awful, potholes are regular culprits in newspapers !
Despite all these problems the land rates in these areas of bangalore are highest, rents are crazy, every day a new apartment project comes up with creative but deceiving ads , people are investing in their 2nd or 3rd flat, commuting alone in big cars without car pooling has become a status symbol !
In some areas like Nallurahalli village, Whitefield the entire village road is filled with apartments in the last 3 years choking everything making the original inhabitants i.e villagers stressed, there have been several cases of resentment and retaliation from these poor creatures ! The very citizens are choking the city indirectly by their blind and short sighted investments and are blaming the government for not providing water, widening the roads, security etc;
Our governments promises a good life, gets elected, collects taxes and fails in delivering at the pace required and takes all the blame from citizens, but who will blame its citizens ??? are we also not responsible for what we have created ? are we sensible in our investments ? are we sensible in our actions and deeds ? are we shortsighted ?
Only time will decide !
