To Mr Y, on his govt’s first birthday

The first BJP government in South India has completed a year with many feathers in its cap. Saffron-haters would expect a listing of the party’s shortcomings as well in this column but I’m not going to oblige them just yet.
Readers of The New Indian Express would have seen pictures of the Chief Minister playing cricket with his granddaughter in their favourite newspaper a few days back. I’m going to grab this opportunity to extract some concessions from the CM when he seems to be in a happy and relaxed mood.
So here it is, Mr Y.
You have been pressing on with infrastructure projects cleared by the earlier government (wherein you were the deputy chief minister) and have also sanctioned several new ones to decongest Bangalore and make it a world-class city. While there are no two ways about development, we should ensure that minimum damage is caused to our environment. Of course, there will be a price to be paid for progress, but we could look at building “stacks of roads” that Mr Narayana Murthy proposed – and got – in the form of the elevated corridor.
But Mr Y, children are falling into open drains, getting electrocuted in parks, becoming orphans because of unscientifically-built road humps. People are getting killed because of poor road signage, because truck and bus drivers are not sensitized and because officials don’t care. Travel down the Bangalore-Mysore state highway and you will understand what I am saying. Or take a round of the city without informing your officials. The Sunday Rounds was a good thing you had started, Mr Y. Pity, it died after just one round. I understand that you are a very busy man, Mr Y, but you need to go around Karnataka’s cities and make heads roll when you see dirty streets and poorly maintained roads. Or, when you see people lugging buckets and pitchers and trekking for miles to get clean drinking water. Or children studying in the dark and yet scoring such fabulous marks.
You also need to visit public utility offices once in a while. And see how your people stand in queues and are treated with disdain by your officials. Will it not help, Mr Y, if most applications are submitted online?
I also have a problem with the “world-class city” tag, Mr Y. What is it about “world-class” that attracts chief ministers of all our states? Is it the wealth, like in the case of West Asian countries? Or is it the sanitized, clinical environs of some of our South-east Asian counterparts? Is it the gleaming glass structures, like in the case of Shanghai, where architects from the world over flocked and practiced their craft because no one in their own countries would allow them to build such horrific energy consumers?
Karnataka’s cities – Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, to name a few -- are world-class in every sense of the word. All we need to do is get somebody in place who truly feels that way and also ensures they are maintained properly and stay alive to the needs of the citizens.
As for the other problems facing the state, I am sure you are the best man for the job, Mr Y.
Happy birthday, Mr CM.