Bengaluru, Sep 10 (IANS) Senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R. Ashoka, on Thursday ridiculed the celebrations marking Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s completion of 100 days in office. “When Rome was burning, Nero fiddled. When Bengaluru is crumbling, the D.K. Shivakumar government builds skyscraper monuments to vanity,” Ashoka alleged.
Ashoka’s remarks came as Shivakumar marked 100 days as Chief Minister with the ‘Drudha Karnataka Sankalpa: Shataka Da Patha, Pragatiya Ratha’ programme at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday.
Chief Minister Shivakumar launched several initiatives during the event, including Seva One, Raitha Chaitanya, a CSR portal for schools, free bus passes for school and college students, and mobility applications, besides announcing the distribution of five lakh housing sites to landless families.
Attacking the proposed redevelopment of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) headquarters, Ashoka alleged that while Bengaluru continued to struggle with basic infrastructure, the BDA was planning to construct a 30-storey headquarters by demolishing existing structures that were reportedly in good condition.
He alleged that several decades-old BDA layouts were still without proper roads, adequate water supply and basic civic amenities, while the authority was contemplating spending around Rs 110 crore on redeveloping its own headquarters.
Ashoka questioned the need to demolish buildings constructed as recently as 2004, claiming that the existing structures were reportedly in good condition.
“This isn’t development. It is a brazen distortion of priorities,” he said.
The BJP leader also raised environmental concerns over the proposed project, alleging that a dense canopy of trees in Kumara Park West, one of Bengaluru’s green spaces, could be affected by the redevelopment.
He further opposed the proposed construction of the high-rise headquarters on T. Chowdiah Road, alleging that the area was already facing severe traffic congestion and that a massive new tower could aggravate the problem.
Ashoka said the proposal reflected misplaced priorities at a time when citizens had been waiting for BDA sites and basic infrastructure for years.
“Bengaluru does not need a 30-storey BDA monument. Bengaluru needs decades of pending infrastructure fixed,” he said.
He urged the state government to focus on improving roads, water supply and civic amenities instead of undertaking what he termed an extravagant redevelopment project.
“Build roads before towers. Provide amenities before monuments. Serve citizens before bureaucratic vanity,” Ashoka said.
He also objected to the reported proposal for commercial use of space in the redeveloped BDA headquarters, describing it as reckless commercialisation of public assets.
Ashoka accused the Congress government of treating public land and institutions as platforms for grandiose projects and said the BDA should concentrate on its primary responsibility of developing Bengaluru.
“BDA’s job is to develop Bengaluru, not redevelop itself at Bengaluru’s expense,” he claimed.
–IANS
mka/rad