City Pulse

The Karnataka government has formed the Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group (BBPAG), a vision group, with eminent Bengalureans to deal with various problems gripping the city. Among the issues BBPAG will look into include reforms in infrastructure, resource mobilization, transparency in governance and increased participation of citizens. BBPAG will not only be a vision group but will also focus on the implementation of policies to resolve the issues. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will head the group.

Among the key people in the group are: N R Narayan Murthy, Infosys Chief Mentor, Azim Premji, Wipro Chairman, Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan, founders of Janaagraha, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon Chief, V Ravichander from the BBMP restructuring group; Sachin Bansal, Flipkart executive chairman, and Microland director Kalpana Kar, solid waste management specialist Ramakanth, RK Misra and former bureaucrats BS Patil, Siddaiah and K Jairaj.

Bengaluru development minister K J George will be the deputy chairman of the group while all ministers representing Bengaluru, the chief secretary and the additional chief secretary (urban development department) will be members. The BBMP and BDA commissioners and the metropolitan commissioner of BMRDA will be permanent invitees, while the deputy secretary (BBMP) in the urban development department, will be the group convenor.

According to the Government Order, the BBPAG aims to

• Improve life of Bengalureans by ushering in reforms in infrastructure and systems,
• Resource mobilization,
• Create transparency in governance, especially e-governance solutions
• Increase participation of citizens, organizations and industry members.

It may be recalled that Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy had organized a conference to discuss Bengaluru’s Blue Print on 15 October 2015. The meeting was attended by renowned Bengalureans from industry, academia, Government, performing arts, bureaucracy, and civil society. In the meeting, the need for a collaborative process-driven approach on key issues facing the city was discussed.

The Bengaluru Blueprint meeting held by Janaagraha had focused on the following themes.
1. Evolve Shared Vision for Bangalore
2. Quantify Goals for each Quality of Life sector/theme, say for a 3-5 year timeframe
3. Create Roadmaps with measurable annual milestones, clear owners for each sector/theme;
to include projects and reforms
4. Put in place Project Governance and Management unit

All leading to Quarterly Dashboards, for better monitoring of projects and resources.

Pic Courtesy: Bangalorefirst.in