Let’s make Bengaluru a better place to live, demand citizens

BENGALURU: Council members of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) experienced lobbying of a different kind on Tuesday as members of civic group, Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), showed up in large numbers to meet members and introduce the ‘citizen’s manifesto’. It is a document detailing a list of demands from citizens of the city which was created after the #BekuBedaSanthe which was held in the city in October last year. 

More than 1,500 citizens had participated in the programme and listed out their expectations from the BBMP and the state government and these demands were collated and created into a #BengaluruigeBeku (Bengaluru wants) manifesto. Tuesday was a good opportunity for CfB volunteers to meet and educate their corporators about the demands. “The volunteers waited patiently to meet as many corporators as possible, presented them with the manifesto and requested them to include the demands for the upcoming elections. Today, we gatecrashed the council meeting so that we could meet many of them at once. The idea is to proactively influence politicians no matter who win,” said Srinivas Alavilli, CfB member. 

Armed with the manifesto in hand, volunteers managed to meet at least 44 corporators as well as the mayor, deputy mayor, leader of the opposition, standing committee members as well as many other members of the council. “We had pleasant discussions on reducing the influence of MLAs in city governance, bus fares, open wells and many other issues,” said Tara Krishnaswamy, another member of the group.

However, the interactions also led to disappointment in some cases where volunteers were told by corporators that items on the agenda would be impossible to implement without the support of the MLAs. “It is ironic that the ones we elect to represent us, feel powerless. This itself encapsulates what is wrong with Bengaluru. Corporators are the most local elected representatives and need to be empowered,” a statement from CfB said. The group also plans to hold debates in the coming days if the politicians are willing to participate.