Protest against Church Street privatisation

Several citizens are coming together to protest the proposed privatisation of the recently developed Church Street. After spending crores of rupees to revamp the popular street, the civic body is looking for a private agency to maintain it. However, this has not gone down well with some citizen groups.

The protest to be staged on Friday has been organised by the Forum for Urban Governance and Commons (FUGC) who are demanding that the civic body cancel all plans to privatise the city’s roads.

Kshitij Urs of FUGC told The Hindu that it is for the first time that an agreement is being signed on handing over the natural responsibilities of the State government and the local government (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to a private agency.

In April this year, the BBMP floated a tender for a company, which would be responsible for maintaining the road, including sweeping it twice a day. The selected agency will also deploy four security personnel, who will work in three shifts round-the-clock, to guard the road.

“The privatisation of Church Street will set a dangerous precedent by creating exclusive zones for the rich and the privileged by allowing for 24/7 security guards of a private company with powers to immediately evict street vendors’ and encroachments. The private company has also been given other powers on Church Street that are otherwise legally vested with the different departments of the local and State governments who are to work within the confines of the laws of the land,” said Mr. Urs.

He added said the BBMP and State government are allowing private individuals with vested interests to design roads at exorbitant cost without any due diligence or concern for public priorities, financial implications, environmental impact or social cohesion.

“Roads, streets and pavements are the most commonly used urban commons. The idea of commons, of commonly used and managed spaces like lakes, streets, parks, forests in cities speak to a 21st century sensibility of participative governance and participative citizens. Unfortunately, we are going backwards,” he said.