Though I'm restricting myself to Bangaluru urban instrastructure, I believe this might be applicable to most of Indian cities.
There is a separate department in Karnataka government for town planning - Department of Town and Country planning - https://www.karnataka.gov....
And I'm sure the city plan of Bengaluru - Past, Present and Future, bears the distinct stamp of sanction from this department.
Every road, every layout, every building, every public place, every transit point - bears the signature of approval from this department.
Yet the city today is anything but an eyesore. Look at any major road in Bangalore from the sky (google earth) and compare the same with some major cities from the world and you would understand what I mean.
Even the so-called 'posh' places in the city - either Business or Residential, are anything but 'Posh'. Infact it would be a joke if you show it to your overseas friends - not just from U.S, but even from Malaysia or Indonesia.
Most of the roads in Bangalore don't have the following:
Proper and even surface, lane markings, grade separator, Kerbs, Pedestrian Platforms, Lighting, Signage, Road and Lane width as per Standards (refer to Indian Roads Congress).
I live near Sarjapur Road and I've lived through the horror of the construction of flyovers on this stretch of ORR. It had caused accidents and health issues to my family and friends. Even today, this stretch of ORR doesn't have proper lanes, kerbs, pedestrian paltform etc., Let's not even discuss interior roads here.
Why is this happening? People theorize a lot and come up with exotic answers like - 'Voter Apathy', 'Where is the problem' etc., etc.,
But the simple and real answer is: The ones who are responsible for planning and the ones who are responsible for execution are the culprits. If they do a proper job, we wouldn't be in this mess.
There may be 10K reasons for the poor execution - local politics, goondaism, kick-backs, politics-of-denial etc. etc., but what is the solution? I don't know. But one has to be one found.
Political parties of every colour and Government of every hue look the other way when it comes to roads in Bangalore. They would rake up every issue of universal importance, but don't care that there are no kerbs and red mud is spread all over the road like peanut-butter on bread.
We can't forever be denied our right - a Planned-City and a City-as-per-the-Plan.
If a Planned City is not our right, the Government should abolish the Department of Town and Country planning.
JanaUSP has been the only organization which has walked the talk when it comes to roads in Bangaluru (disclaimer - I'm no way associated with this organization).
What is the best way to have a Planned-City and a City-as-per-the-Plan?
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