Did Congress just lose some Indira canteen points in Bengaluru’s rains?

Just when the ruling Congress thought it had figured out the way to win the urban voters’ hearts — through Indira Canteens — unprecedented, heavy rains during the last one month threw open a floodgate of woes as Bengaluru’s infrastructure crumbled completely.

For political parties, Bengaluru plays a key role in State politics. First, it is a question of political prestige to have clout in the Capital city, which is under constant media attention. Second, arithmetically, Bengaluru is crucial as it comprises 28 of the 224 Assembly seats in the State.

At a time when urban voters have been leaving the Congress, the Siddaramaiah government invoked the magic of the Gandhi name, setting up subsidised Indira canteens. The concept, which is borrowed from Tamil Nadu’s Amma Canteen, offers breakfast, lunch and dinner at subsidised rates and mainly targets the urban poor and migrants workers.

To roll out the canteens, the State government chose the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) (the city civic authority) to open one canteen in each of its wards. So far, a total of 113 are operational.

After the successful opening of canteens, cases of food shortage are now being reported at most canteens. At each canteen, the BBMP has scaled down the number of plates at meal time from the earlier, planned, 400, to 150-200 now, due to a shortfall in the number of kitchens and logistics to supply the meals.

The Congress had gained some traction among the public recently, given principal Opposition BJP’s decision to appoint former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa — the stalwart was dogged by corruption scandals during his reign — as the party’s State unit chief. However, everything came unstuck as heavy rains ripped apart the fragile infrastructure Bengaluru stands upon.

Many roads are now in complete disarray, and at least three people died after they failed to negotiate a huge pothole filled with rain water.

On October 8, a woman who was seated behind a scooter died as the rider tried to navigate a bad stretch of the Mysore Road. This is the third pothole-related death in a week in the city. Last week, a couple lost their life and their child escaped with minor injuries after their scooter hit a pothole on the same road.

With city battered with negative publicity, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah suddenly decided to drive down to the heavily choked Mysore Road. But by the time he undertook the visit, the local authorities had filled up most of the potholes. The worried government is now trying to get its act together, hoping the infrastructure will hold up till the elections, which are expected early next year.

The local civic authority is now entrusted with the dual task of getting Indira Canteens off the ground as well as putting infrastructure back on rails and as of now, it more looks like race against time as the elections are just around the corner.

But the bigger issue is that the civic authority is extremely cash strapped as during Yeddyurappa’s tenure, the area of civic bodies was expanded to accommodate 17 municipalities, and hence the number of wards were increased from 98 to 200. Therefore, the BBMP’s finances are stretched thin and they don’t have enough money to rebuild the infrastructure in the city.

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