Karnataka: Opposition grills government over 'Brand Bengaluru' plans

Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, DK Shivakumar faced the opposition’s wrath over the developments in his “Brand Bengaluru” project. The government in a written statement indicated that they have received over 70,000 suggestions and opinions from citizens on various aspects of the city. The government has roped in eight institutions to collate all the suggestions.

The opposition however left no stone unturned in pointing to the challenges for the government to achieve this vision during the Question Hour. “What Brand Bengaluru are we talking about? There are potholes on roads and work on the Metro rail is going slow,even Cauvery water supply has become dearer,” BJP MLA Satish Reddy stated. Ashwath Narayan, MLA of Malleshwaram stated that not a single developmental work has been taken up in the city under the Congress government. “There are problems happening right in front of us. Do we need consultants to say that the traffic problem at Hebbal needs to be fixed? A person flying from Delhi arrives at the city airport only to get stuck for three hours at Hebbal,” MLA Munirathna stated. 

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy however retorted by saying that it was the BJP that opposed the steel flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal. He further mentioned that a Bruhat Bengaluru Coordination Committee under the Deputy CM and a Bruhat Bengaluru Executive Committee under the chief secretary would be constituted.