Not street-smart cities

The premier software companies located in Bengaluru’s Electronics City and Whitefield captured the nation’s imagination like never before. Recall the television commercial a few years ago that showed a politician telling a young information technology professional at the airport, “You have enhanced the country’s prestige in the entire world”.

That awe, in a sense, was the culmination of a seed sown by bureaucrat RK Baliga, who was chairman of Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation, better known as Keonics, during a critical phase in the State’s history. His tenure began during the transformative era of D Devaraj Urs — a politician who steered the State to the shores of development from 1972 to 1980. As the then chief minister, Urs took what was seen as an audacious decision to sanction 22 engineering and six medical colleges to the private sector in one Cabinet meeting.

Over the years, this decision helped create the best catchment area in the country for engineering graduates and, powered by the economic reforms of 1991, led to the emergence of these two IT powerhouses in Bengaluru. There is little doubt, not just in India but globally too, that this is a happening software location where multinational companies are vying for a presence. In hindsight, however, it is clear that the vision of the leaders four decades ago and those in later years has not been a perfect 20/20.

Rather, there are valuable lessons here for any present-day administrator or politician embarking on one of today’s much-vaunted smart city projects. Interestingly, the concept of a smart city was first dreamt up by the networking giant Cisco Systems and the Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA) for the creation of the Internet of Things (IoT) innovation hub.

The halfway measures

A peculiar feature of both Electronics City and Whitefield — located to the south near Hosur and east of Bengaluru, respectively — is that much as the industry has benefited from the cumulative impact of several visionary moves down the years, the same cannot be said about the living conditions in them. ELCIA, in particular, has functioned with such amazing efficiency over the years that the government has authorised it to collect taxes from the industries in this 322-acre zone and even utilise a part of the money for the area’s development.

In fact, more than a decade before corporate social responsibility was legislated, the ELCIA Trust had initiated projects to benefit under-privileged sections. It financially supports 18 government schools, midday meals for over 4,000 schoolchildren, and training programmes for school dropouts. The trust has even laid roads in some parts of the area, but is acutely aware of its limited powers.

“We can only go halfway. The other side will also have to come halfway, don’t they?” says Rama NS, CEO of ELCIA. The “other side” is so fragmented that efforts are currently underway to create an umbrella organisation, one that can marshal civil society to improve conditions around E-City.

Overnight growth story

The big builders constructed multi-storey apartment complexes, which were snapped up by buyers hungry for real estate. Reality hit them only much later. “Yes, they told us there were borewells and the government will soon provide drinking water connections. But the borewells soon went dry and the promised water from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) flowed to E-City, bypassing our apartments,” said a resident on condition of anonymity.

Like many other residents in the area, Debasis Bhattacharya is an IT professional who lives near E-City even though he works in Bengaluru’s central business district 18 km away. “This entire area grew, you can say, overnight. The big builders have provided some sewage treatment plants, but the problem is in the smaller apartments. The two-three-storey buildings have no drainage outlets. The entire area is dependent on water tankers,” he says.

Road connectivity improved after the Silk Board-E-City flyover opened six years ago. But this is far from enough for a working population in excess of 1.25 lakh housed in E-City and another 2 lakh floating population commuting to it daily. The expansion of the Metro network to cover this region is a long way from implementation. It is astounding that the planners did not think it important to provide a Metro line from south Bengaluru to the south-eastern areas or the E-City and east Bengaluru or Whitefield — areas with some of the heaviest traffic density in the city.

Improvised living

“The biggest mistake was that the entire focus was on setting up the industrial facility. Nobody even thought about an integrated plan despite the fact that around every such facility there will be need for housing, hospitals, educational institutions and other infrastructure,” says BV Naidu, former director of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), who became the darling of the industry for providing the all-important digital connectivity to make Bengaluru the country’s IT capital.

A purely need-based approach of building a flyover here or a road expansion there has failed in the face of the rising numbers of both people and vehicles. “The E-City was focused on creating an environment for the industry and it succeeded in this. Even for the infrastructure, there were plans but no execution,” says Naidu. He rues the failure of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to improve the region’s infrastructure. “There was a plan to build an IT corridor from E-City to Whitefield. Had it been implemented, we would not have had the problems we are facing in both the areas today.”

Anjali Saini of Whitefield Rising, a civil society group, agrees with Naidu and goes a step further. “We don’t want any Vision group. We need an Execution group,” she says.

Discontent rises in the east

Whitefield is home to the best of global technology companies (with the International Tech Park, or ITPL, acting as the pivot) because “being in Bengaluru influences their share price”, as Naidu puts it. This once sleepy extension of east Bengaluru has stretched itself horizontally and vertically to morph into a self-sufficient ecosystem. Or rather, as a “mixture of the Wild West and Gurgaon”, as some, such as Divya Balagopal, senior partner of Mundkur Associates, would prefer to see it.

Vacant land has been sold without any kind of civic planning. Apartments big, small or tiny have come up without a guarantee of either water or sewerage connection. Paying-guest services have, like in the areas around E-City, increased phenomenally in Whitefield, leading to a proliferation of street food stalls. Huge malls here cater to diverse cultures and eating habits. The chrome-and-glass of the IT companies, however, dazzle in the company of piled-up garbage and the alarming foaming in the polluted Varthur lake. There is simply no coordination between the various departments concerned to deal with the troubles, nor do the residents appear aware of the disaster unfolding in their midst. “It’s an overgrown village, really,” says Balagopal.

Saini agrees. “It is complete anarchy. The Mahadevapura area has the worst air quality index. There are three railway stations in and around Whitefield. Hoody station was renovated thanks to MP funds. But there is no access or parking facility. It means people will need private transportation to reach their respective offices,” she says.

Missing authority

A policy change is the need of the hour, says Sanjiv Dyamanavar of Praja, a citizen group: “The railways can very well raise the fares. Companies are prepared to make bulk purchase of tickets. The number of passengers will go up to five lakh daily. The railways can provide a similar facility near E-City.”

Concurring with him, urban expert V Ravichander says, “All that it requires is a transformational approach. Once the state government offers to fund it, private parties will also come forward and the railways will make the necessary changes. The State government needs to show that leadership.”

Mahendra Jain, additional chief secretary and principal secretary (urban development), is confident there will be improvements to infrastructure this year. “Work on the suburban railway network will begin and may be ready next year. Frequencies of trains will increase. Work on the Metro will also start in the next two months,” he says.

Companies in the vicinity of the Outer Ring Road (ORR), about 15 km from E-City, are no less when it comes to bolstering the country’s foreign exchange, but they too are not better served when it comes to basic amenities. Their hopes lie in the activism of citizen groups like the Mahadevapura Environment Protection and Development Trust, the Bellandur Forum and the Katha-Muktha Bellandur group.

“Our solutions are hyper-local. We cannot fix systemic problems. We are filling the gaps... like collecting wet waste, using the compost to fill gaps to protect the lakes... Right now, groups of us are fighting the system and we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Priya Ramasubban, whose Mahadevapura Environment Protection and Development Trust has successfully reclaimed the Kaikondrahalli lake for the local people.

Imran Qureshiis an independent Bengaluru-based journalist with The Lede

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