A senior faculty of a reputed educational institution in Karnataka wrote on her X handle: “MK enjoy Karnataka, First power cuts, water shortage and now……”. She further wrote: “I wish I could somehow not give my share of income tax”. Undoubtedly, this manifested disenchantment of the people towards the Congress government of the state for its failure to meet the minimum daily needs of the people. They had voted out the BJP government for it being disoriented and dysfunctional, though caste break-up played a role. It was primarily the BJP government’s failure to meet the basic requirements of the people which brought Congress rule.
Ironically, nearly nine months later, the people are disillusioned with the Congress government. The people aren’t happy Congress leaders are promoting the interests of their henchmen rather than taking care of the basic needs of the people. The Kannada people had voted the Congress to power in response to assurances and promises of good governance made by Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
The Siddaramaiah government tried to keep Rahul’s five guarantees to the people of Karnataka, but it failed to take care of their basic needs. Bengaluru is a much sought after destination. With massive expansion of the IT sector, Bengaluru has had a special role in the economic growth of India. The state government has been working on a plan to develop five hi-tech satellite cities around Bengaluru. Five world-class townships, each located on 2,000 acres of land, each having villas to meet the demand for housing.
The earlier government was toying with the idea of making provision for 30,000 residential sites and building 5,000 houses in each satellite city. A metro project launched a decade ago is still in an embryonic stage. The primary focus has been building housing complexes. Since Bengaluru has an international reputation, many industrialists and VVIPs from other countries are moving to the city. There is a lot of demand for villas on the city’s outskirts.
But it is an arduous task to negotiate the roads. Traffic jams have turned the lives of the people into hell. Those with appointments have to leave home two hours ahead of the scheduled appointment. Many of the roads are pitted with potholes and water-logging is quite common when it rains. It takes hours for the water to clear.
The poor quality of political leadership has affected the work culture. Very recently a storm has swept over the city. Many trees were uprooted and electric connections were snapped. It took more than 36 hours for the city to restore power. Uprooted trees had to be cut and left on the roadside.
The failure of the political leadership was apparent. If the leaders nurse a strong desire for expansion of the city, they must be agile to meet the basic needs of water and electricity without which the city cannot survive. Unfortunately, India’s IT hub is grappling with a severe water crisis. Every alternate day residents have to do without water supply. Water tanker operators have been exploiting the crisis. A 1000-litre capacity water tanker costs nearly Rs 2500 to Rs 3000. Earlier, inadequate rainfall used to be the alibi for poor water supply, but of late there is water crisis even after it rains hard.
The government has no serious mechanism to fight the water crisis. There is only cosmetic action. Like using milk tankers of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to transport water to Bengaluru. The government has plans to take control of private borewells. The deputy chief minister has asked private water tanker owners to register their tankers. It is clear the political leadership of the state has no clue how to handle the crisis. The state government seems unable to meet the challenges of an expanding city.
The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has imposed fines of Rs 1.1 lakh each on 22 families for wasting drinking water. Bengaluru relies on the Cauvery and groundwater for its water needs. However, excessive urbanisation has substantially depleted underground water. BWSSB estimates indicate a shortfall of 500 million litres per day compared to the city’s requirement of 2,600-2,800 million litres daily.
Experts hold the view that the crisis is due to two primary factors. Firstly, the management of water resources in Bengaluru is currently plagued by severe limitations and inefficiencies. Secondly, overpopulation and urbanisation. The strain on the city’s natural resources resulting in declining blue and green spaces. Experts say that the city has experienced a sharp 1,055 percent rise in built-up areas in the last five decades. This population increase is primarily driven by migration. As early as 2014, warnings were issued about rising temperatures, the disappearance of green cover and constant water scarcity due to the expanding built-up areas, but there was no action.
Most of the lakes have been filled-up and high rises have come up on them. Bengaluru treats only 64 percent of its total wastewater and untreated water pollutes the available water sources. The city uses only 30 percent of the waste water. Out of the 14,000 government borewells, 6,900 have dried up. Schools were temporarily shut down due to shortage of water in May of this year.
The Congress’ poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls is attributed to the failure of the Congress government to meet the challenge. People who voted the Congress to power in the assembly elections punished the party for its failures in the Lok Sabha election. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar called it a “warning bell” for the party. The party was expecting 15 seats. Now, it is reviewing the loss. “We have to find out why this happened and where we went wrong?” he said.
One of the reasons is the infighting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar fighting for supremacy. Shivakumar is too ambitious for Siddaramiah’s liking. Undeniably, the internal contradictions and infighting has adversely affected the workings of the state government. The intensity of the fight could be judged from the statement of Siddaramaiah made during the Lok Sabha election; “if you don’t vote for us (Congress) in large numbers it will be difficult for me to continue.” (IPA Service)
