Bengaluru Mission 2022: Karnataka plans to overhaul city infra
Unveiling ‘Bengaluru Mission 2022’ on Thursday, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa presented various plans to make the city “one of the best in the world” within two years to mark 75 years of independence.
The CM explained that the initiative will be focussed on four major areas of challenge in infrastructure renovation for Bengaluru, namely enabling faster commute, providing a cleaner and greener city, and connecting citizens to the city by providing access to various services and to experience its culture and heritage.
“Bengaluru is among the four
leading technology hubs of the world and home to many Fortune 500 companies. It is the priority of our government to provide world-class infrastructure to make Bengaluru a global city,” Yediyurappa said.
The CM highlighted that traffic congestion in the city has increased four folds in the last two decades. “Today there are around 84.5 lakh vehicles registered in Bengaluru. It is intended to encourage public transport usage, speed up Namma Metro and suburban railway project along with construction and maintenance of good roads and smart traffic management to make commuting easier and faster,” he remarked.
According to officials, the key initiatives that will be taken up as part of the project include: Development of 12 high-density corridors (totalling 190 kms) by Karnataka Road Development Corporation; installation of synchronous signal lights; promotion of shared electric vehicle mobility; faster completion of metro projects; expanding bus priority lanes; and operationalisation of suburban rail to ease traffic and reduce pollution
Meanwhile, in a bid to ensure a greener city, the government has decided to prioritise creating clean waterways and lakes. Elaborating on the plans, BBMP Administrator Gaurav Gupta said two large tree parks, spanning across 400 acres each, would be developed. The mini forests in Turahalli, Kadugodi, JP Nagar, and Mathikere will also be developed and popularised,” he added.
Addressing the garbage menace of the city, the government has planned to “institutionalise” waste management system. Under the ‘Nanna Kasa Nanna Jawabdari (My Garbage My Responsibility) theme,’ community participation is promoted and citizens will be encouraged to adopt zero waste home concepts. The waste to energy plant being set up in Bidadi is expected to operationalise in two years,” the blueprint of the initiative read.
Further, Gupta added that the BBMP Sahaya portal would be redesigned as a one-stop portal for grievance redressal to make initiatives and services citizen-friendly. “To enable a 360-degree experience of the city’s heritage and culture, a museum will be set up at NGEF in an effort to make the migrant population residing in Bengaluru to get acquainted with the state’s culture,” he said.