Save Whitefield Protest !

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The pent-up frustrations of the Whitefield residents over the unsolved civic woes came to the fore on Monday with thousands of them staging a demonstration at the International Technology Park Limited (ITPL) as part of the #SaveWhitefield protest.

Unlike usual Mondays when they would sit at their desks doing their jobs, the IT crowd poured onto the streets, starting from 10 am, demanding that the government look into the various civic and traffic issues troubling the residents of Whitefield and other areas of East Bengaluru.

People from various walks of life, schoolchildren, working professionals, residents and the elderly took part in the protest leaving behind their daily chores.

Dressed in black, the protesters gathered at seven assembly points of Marathahalli, Forum, Hoodi, Nellurahalli, KTPO and Graphite before heading to the rendezvous - ITPL - in front of Park Square Mall.

The pathetic condition of the roads, the absence of pedestrian facilities, traffic violations and pollution were among the issues they wanted the government to address immediately.

They have not just listed their demands but also set deadlines for the authorities to fix them. The list includes: levelling and asphalting of 30 roads in the area by March 1; fixing footpaths and barricading them by January 1; and deployment of traffic cops three times their present number by January 1.

R K Misra, a Whitefield resident, who is also the technical advisor to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the Bangalore Development Authority, told Deccan Herald that they would wait till December 31 and if no visible changes took place in the locality, then they would intensify their protest.

“We will not pay the property tax from January next year in case the government does not act. We will also storm the Global Investors’ Meet scheduled to be held in the City in February 2016 and stage a protest there,” he added. Misra said though Rs 600 crore had been sanctioned by the government for the development of Whitefield this year, none of the works had commenced.

Utkarsh Singh, founder and managing director, Hyphen Strategic Design, said all companies in and around Whitefield put together suffered losses running into crores of rupees each year due to traffic-related issues.

“Nearly eight lakh vehicles pass through the area on any given day. We want the roads and footpaths to be maintained well. We also want the garbage cleared daily,” said Singh who initiated the #SaveWhitefield movement.

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If there is one city in India which reflects its modern face to the globe, it's Bengaluru. A decade ago, Bengaluru emerged as the knowledge hub of the country , and rightfully earned the title of India's IT capital and aspired to ape the Silicon Valley .
At 10.1mn, Bengaluru's population has risen 47% over the past decade; it is the third most populous city in India and 18th most populous city in the world. Bengaluru has achieved the distinction of being the startup capital of India with the rise of young entrepreneurship. It is unfortunate that India's most promising city has crumbled, and far from being an aspirational city , it has driven its citizens to cry out in pain.

For a city which is home to many Fortune 500 companies, Bengaluru should have been in transit to become an iconic city . Unfortunately , the city is on a downward spiral with its social infrastructure lagging far behind its rampant growth - rapid unplanned urbanization, unusable roads, broken-down garbage disposal system, poor sanitation, rise of infectious diseases, unscientifically managed sanitary landfills, frothing lakes, Bengaluru has now reached tipping point, and needs course correction on a war footing.

For a city that pays the highest road tax in the country , crumbling road and traffic infrastructure is unexplainable. The congested traffic situation is taking its toll on the city's health, leave alone the number of productive work hours and energy loss.

Within the BBMP, the governance mechanism needs to be redefined. The process of tendering by materials versus complete project management with strict timelines needs to be implemented.

The city generates more than 5,000 tonnes of garbage (solid, organic and inorganic) every day and there is an informal garbage economy in the city. The seven waste processing units are grossly insufficient for a city of this size.

At the heart of the city's problem seems to be the financial crisis of the BBMP with a complete imbalance between its receipts and spend. The allocation of funds per capita within the city , versus tax paid per capita within the city seem disconnected, and that is precisely why Whitefield and East Bengaluru, which contribute the highest tax to the city, are now rising to demand better infrastructure. The BBMP needs a better fiscal management plan.

As cities grow and develop, patterns of living and working change so the transportation network should be constantly expanded and reoriented. Seoul, with 10.4mn people, is the world's most wired city with the densest public transport system, and is rated Asia's most livable city . For Bengaluru's development to remain sustainable, equitable and healthy , the city needs to be rebooted and reinvented. This city is crying in pain and needs attention.                    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Bengaluru-is-crumbling-and-needs-to-be-rebooted-now/articleshow/49991543.cms

Multinational companies with a significant pres ence in Whitefield and Outer Ring Road have warned they will stall expansion plans and investments could leave the city, if the traffic situation does not improve in Bengaluru.

Whitefield has always been home to some of the most renowned technology companies of the world, such as Dell, HP and Oracle, while Outer Ring Road is the new address for behemoths like eBay, Visa and Wells Fargo, among others.

“We met the chief minister in September and requested for a meeting on this issue, but it keeps getting postponed as there is no intent on their part,“ Ram Narayanan, general manager, eBay India, told TOI.

A lack of basic infrastructure, traffic congestion and excessive commuting hours, leading to productivity loss and low employee morale, have irked the MNCs which blame the lack of intent on the part of the state government to address the issue.

Narayanan said investment is something that is decided at the headquarters and if the situation does not improve, the money will go elsewhere. He said the ease of doing business extends to good infrastructure and added the com pany is open to looking at other options in the city.

“This lack of infrastructure is increasingly getting noted by our counterparts in the US, and brand Bengaluru is taking a hit. There is pressure on us to justify whether we should continue to invest in Bengaluru,“ Sarv Saravanan, EMC Asia Pacific operations head, told TOI.

Saravanan added in order to derisk, the company had already opened an office in another city, though he declined to name it.“Bengaluru is just not catching up on infrastructure,“ he said.

The situation is bad during mornings and evenings, but turns worse if it rains as pothole-filled roads are entirely waterlogged and commuters have to wait for hours, stuck in traffic. “On a bad day, a 12km journey from Whitefield to Domlur takes up to 2 hours,“ Vijay Bharadwaj, vice-president, human resources, Dell, said.

Ravi Gautham, senior vicepresident, Northern Trust Bank, said if the company had to think of increasing headcount, it would rethink doing so in Bengaluru because of the traffic. “Our days have extended as average commuting time is up by about 50%,“ he said.

“The fiasco during the day results in a huge loss of productivity.On an average, our employees take four hours to commute to and from office which affects their work-life balance,“ according to Bharadwaj.

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