BENGALURU:  “Act like a CM,’’ Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director (CMD), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy at a meeting on Thursday to urge the government to pay proper attention to the crying civic infrastructure needs of the city. She met Kumaraswamy in her role as president of the Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) and pointed out several urgent matters that he needs to address in Bengaluru. 

Highlighting the pain points in the city, Shaw said that while world-class talent was plenty in Bengaluru, the environment was akin to a ‘third world’ country. She strongly urged the CM to also implement an image makeover for the state government, on priority. 

Speaking to The New Indian Express after her meeting, Kiran Shaw said, “The crying need is to administer better. One huge BBMP can be run better with decentralisation and the setting up of 8 zonal councils with an empowered zonal commissioner.” This way, the Mayor, BBMP Commissioner and standing committee chairpersons could operate at a pan-city level overseeing the zonal heads, who will have accountability and autonomy for responsibly using funds, she explained. 

‘We’re a city of 10 million, what’s the govt doing?’
Kiran Shaw also said the BBMP should be willing to outsource projects and supervise rather than using severely constrained in house resources. “We are a city of 10 million-plus people, what is the government doing?.” She also argued for declaring Church Street ‘pedestrian only’ and said that the street had been designed at great expense to be a ‘walking street’. “If traffic is not stopped between 10 am and 10 pm, it is a colossal waste of tax-payers money,” she said. “Anyone obstructing this should be ashamed,’’ she asserted.    

Kumaraswamy was also urged to integrate the Metropolitan Planning Committee across the BBMP as well as other agencies like the BMRCL, BWSSB, BMTC and others. She laid out plans to make the lethargic and ineffective administrative system better by having Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Authority as the vehicle of the MPC but with a focus on implementation. “The BMPA should be headed by the CM with the Bengaluru Minister as co-chair,’’ she said. On the issue of traffic, she said that the state needs to redesign 12 High Density Corridors to address traffic bottlenecks.