Bengaluru’s civic institutions collapsed under BJP rule: Dinesh Gundu Rao

Former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for five terms consecutively from Gandhinagar constituency in Bengaluru. The former Minister says that lack of planning, corruption, collapse of civic institutions during BJP rule led to infrastructure bottlenecks in India’s IT hub which has 28 segments.

Former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for five terms consecutively from Gandhinagar constituency in Bengaluru. The former Minister says that lack of planning, corruption, collapse of civic institutions during BJP rule led to infrastructure bottlenecks in India’s IT hub which has 28 segments.

Excerpts:

Bengaluru contributes more than 60% of the income to Karnataka’s economy. How is this Karnataka election significant for your party, largely from Bengaluru perspectives?

Bengaluru is one of the most important cities of India. The growth and development of the city is a must. Proper planning and better infrastructure, better transportation are major issues. Bengaluru’s governance is very much based on the State government’s performance.... The city’s administration is controlled by the State government. So, it requires a very good government in the State to realise Bengaluru’s fullest potential.

What are the issues the Congress is focusing on in Bengaluru in this election?

Our manifesto which will be released soon will talk about it in detail. We are facing a lot of problems in the city due to lack of proper planning. If we don’t have proper planning and vision then the growth becomes uncontrolled and haphazard. So, you have commercial and residential areas overlapping, green and ecological areas get destroyed. Moreover, public transport is a key for the city. And Bengaluru’s biggest problem is traffic. We need to improve public transport and we need to see that peripheral ring road is executed, though we have been talking for a long time, to decongest the city. And see that metro rail work continued with pace. Transport, environment and planning are key issues in Bengaluru.

Irrespective of the party in power, infrastructure woes appear to be constant in Bengaluru. What are the problems of a city like Bengaluru at a deeper level? Is it reliance on quick fixes rather than long term vision that take into accounts potential population growth etc.?