From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Aug 17: With the starting of the countdown for the August 22 elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came out with a four-page vision document to make Bengaluru City among the top 50 cities in the world in the next five years.
The vision document titled, “Bengaluru – There is no other City like it!” repeated most of the promises mentioned in the ruling Congress party’s poll manifesto released last week.
It said the Stare Government would bring out new a law for segregation of waste at source, new garbage tenders, setting up processing centres, and reducing waste to landfill.
Siddaramaiah said the existing Tender Sure road project would be modified to have more wide roads.
Fifty more roads would be developed under Tender Sure after the elections.
Completion of Metro Rail second phase in three years with investment of Rs 26,000 crore and 48 kms elevated road connecting east and west and north and south parts of the City to decongest traffic are the major focus of vision document.
The document, which highlighted late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech delivered to the Bangalore City Corporation on April 17, 1962, aimed at strengthening the pre-eminence of the Bengaluru brand.
For economically weaker sections, the chief minister promised construction of three lakh houses for the poor, hardship allowance for contract poura karmika workers and drinking water supply and sewerage connections to all slum-dwellers.
A coordination committee would be set up to monitor road cutting and drainage works of civic bodies such as BBMP, BDA, BMTC, BESCOM, police etc., the vision document said.
Hitting out at the three Union Ministers from Karnataka in Narenda Modi government at the Centre, Siddaramaiah said “the contributions of three BJP MPs representing the City is zero.’’
The City did not make it to the list of Smart City owing to poor tax collection and garbage crisis occurred during the BJP’s rule in the BBMP and the BJP MPs have not helped a bit, he said.