Branding exercise without fixing basic problems of Bengaluru is a futile exercise: CAF

CAF urges govt to fix issues before launching Brand Bengaluru campaign. Forum demands White Papers to identify issues, use single metric to examine development & implement constitutional method for city planning. Urges initiatives to define city's character & improve quality of life.

The Citizens’ Action Forum, a coalition of several Residents’ Welfare Associations and citizens’ groups, has written to Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar on the “Brand Bengaluru” campaign, arguing that “without fixing the key problems facing the city, a branding exercise would be an expensive exercise in futility”.

“Attempting to fix an image without fixing the underlying issues would be, at best, a temporary method of placating the residents and trying to entice new investments,” the letter further said.

The CAF has now demanded that the government should first come out with a series of White Papers, which are realistically backed up through formal studies and surveys. Let there be consensus on what ails Bengaluru.

“Use a single metric of ‘quality of life’ to examine all development, qualitatively and quantitatively,” the letter said, adding that implementing the “constitutional method” for city planning was key to addressing the issues plaguing the city.

Furthermore, the letter challenges the conventional approach to development. Instead of extravagant investments in steel and concrete, it advocates initiatives that truly define the city’s character and improve the quality of life of its residents.

The CAF, in its letter, said Brand Bengaluru is an excellent concept and needs to be built sustainably and holistically.

The forum said, “But, if sewage continues to run in the storm-water drains and the garbage is not cleared in a timely manner by the garbage mafia, then Brand Bengaluru will remain Dirty Bengaluru. If the urban poor and many parts of the periphery do not get daily water and need to buy from the tanker industry, then the city will be Thirsty Bengaluru. If building bylaws and zoning laws are constantly flouted with the connivance of officials, then the city will be Lawless Bengaluru. If lakes are dead, pollution and lung diseases are on the rise, green cover is disappearing fast, and residential areas are pummeled by noise pollution, then the city will be Unsustainable Bengaluru. If we do not have BBMP elections for years, and no devolution of power takes place as mandated by the Constitution, and ad hoc decision-making continues on the whims of individuals, then we will be Undemocratic Bengaluru.”