Now let us look at the much - touted Ring Road. It is a misnomer to call it a Ring Road because it is not yet complete. You may at best call it a crescent-road. From the Bannur road junction to Nanjangud road at Bandipalya, the Ring Road work could not be taken-up because of vested interest groups of officials and politicians. To sabotage acquisition of land for completing the Ring Road, some went to court and got stay, negotiations were held and deliberately prolonged, revenue records were tampered, RTCs were manipulated (with a little help from the pliable, equally corrupt Village Accountants), acquired lands are denotified, so on and so forth to the point of ad nauseam.
For the sake of saving the land for a few individuals (so that they get the present high market rate), the interest of millions of Mysoreans and citizens of India are sacrificed.
One NGO is trying to find out the names of these worthies under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. Let us hope we the citizens of Mysore will at least get to know the names of our leaders and noble citizens who are blocking the progress of this Ring Road.
It is learnt that just recently one former Deputy Chief Minister had written a letter to MUDA to avoid a certain individual's land needed for this Ring Road and change the alignment or do whatever. I learn, MUDA has written back saying it is rather difficult to oblige this Minister for the reason that the whole alignment of the Ring Road would be disturbed and it will go detour by many kilometers or to that effect. The road would naturally lose its character as a Ring Road. What kind of a Minister and what kind of a people's representative?
It is because of the interference of influential politicians and officials to favour the vested interest groups or some individuals, land acquisition for genuine Public Purpose are held up indefinitely. Three examples come to mind — Mysore Airport, our Ring Road and the BMIC Expressway of NICE. A major setback to our city's progress.
It is a different story with Chamundi Hill and surrounding area. Though the Revised Comprehensive Development Plan (RCDP) of MUDA declared 639 hectares of Chamundi Hill as “buffer zone” there have been indiscriminate encroachments by high and mighty. The then Mysore Agenda Task Force (MATF) had recommended 1000 mtrs around the hill from its edge as buffer zone but the then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna reduced it to 500 mtrs. Apparently to favour some already in occupation. The Forest Department's efforts to get it notified as "Chamundi Hill Conservation Area" is yet to be realised. The notification is stuck in Vidhana Soudha for obvious reasons. Demarcation of lands with stone pillars, green hedges etc., is going on in this area unabated and unquestioned by the DC or MUDA or any government agency. Already temporary structures are coming up which will later be regularised and then... Cry, my beloved Chamundi Betta!
Take the case of conservancy lanes in the old layouts like Vontikoppal, N. R. Mohalla, Jayanagar. The very purpose of creating conservancy lanes by our erstwhile planners has been defeated by allowing all and sundry to encroach upon them over the years. The conservancy between the back of two rows of houses (in their backyard) were created to facilitate sanitation workers to shift night soil. Underground drainage lines also ran underneath. Though the conservancy lanes are the property of City Corporation, no serious effort is being made to prevent encroachments or remove encroachments. Instead, in some cases, the conservancy lanes were metalled and tarred for the benefit of illegal users. Taking advantage of this kind of laxity, many have built structures on the conservancy, even outhouses. In recent years apartment builders set a "new" precedent by constructing structures on them thus damaging UGD lines. The Corporation can earn in crores if this land is sold or auctioned. I think I must end this moaning now but not before mentioning two names — one from our city and another from Singapore — as role-model Ministers and people's elected representatives.
One is late K. Puttaswamy, a former State Minister from our city. He would not tolerate the then Mysore City Municipal officials or even elected members, if they caused any illegality in the matter of Municipal property or building regulation. There were many instances where he had driven directly to the Municipal office to draw the attention of the officials to encroachments of roads and footpaths and violation of building plans. At least his principled stand greatly helped reduce such violations. Alas, no one of his concern ever appeared in our city after him. Many years ago I was having a city tour in Singapore. The tourist guide, as usual, was bragging about the glory of this City State and its Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who was considered as Nehru of Singapore and credited with having built Singapore to what it is — one of world's richest States. And Lee was a terror to those who broke the law and were corrupt. As the Prime Minister, he had no favourites when it came to official work.
When the coach was passing through an intersection, the guide pointed at a multi - storeyed apartment building and said that was where the brother of the Prime Minister Lee stayed. So what, I thought. The guide continued with a wry smile: "But he will not be staying there from next month. And you will not see the building either if you come here after a couple of months."
“Why? Why? Why?” Many in the coach asked in chorus. The guide explained: "You know the Singapore government wanted to demolish this building to widen this intersection. The residents naturally protested in vain. They hit upon the idea. The Prime Minister's brother was a resident of this building and thought they could use his influence [Like in India]. Knowing his brother Lee's nature, he reluctantly went and requested him to take a deviation to improve the intersection and save the building. Just like what happened to our Ring Road!
Lee listened to his brother but did not write to Housing and Road Minister of Singapore to save the building like our Deputy Chief Minister. Can you guess what he did? He took a class in political and social morality to his brother and told him that if he wanted money to move to a new apartment he would give but the building should go [Unlike in India]. “Take your compensation from the government and if you need more money ask me”, said Prime Minister Lee to his brother Lee. That's it. Which is why Singapore is Singapore and Bangalore is Bangalore. Certainly we don't want Mysore to become a nightmare city like Bangalore. Fix our city now while it is still small and manageable. Mysoreans wake up. The contribution of the visionary ruler Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Dewan Mirza Ismail for the well-planned growth of the city can never be overemphasized. It was once a model city in all respects. Spacious roads, huge circles and beautiful boulevards created by them in their days stand testimony to their vision. Alas! What have we done to that beautiful city? The present rulers have neither vision nor missionary zeal to save Mysore from steady deterioration.
It may not be out of place to mention here what I heard while attending a meeting called by the then Deputy Commissioner P. Sreenivasachari in his office where heads of different departments were also invited. One of the subjects was about relocating Nagarahole Games Sanctuary tribals near Hunsur at Nagapura. That was why he wanted to know the officer representing the forest department. A very junior forest officer who was sitting next to me announced himself. He had come to Mysore just four months back and was a very junior officer. Sreenivasachari, generally a calm and cool person, was unhappy about the designated Conservator of Forest not attending the meeting as it would serve no purpose. However, we all laughed it off saying that it was not something new in such meetings. MUDA is a classic example. It also reflected the seriousness with which such meetings were held. Be that as it may, to come to the point, the subject of wire - net fencing around the Chamundi Hill with millions of dollars of financial help from Netherlands or Norway, also came up for discussion as there was a length of area still to be fenced. Sadly, it was revealed a major port- ion of the fund went back to the donor as the work was not executed within the scheduled time. Just as what is happening to JNNURM funding.
Certainly we cannot blame the officials. In a democracy we have to blame people’s representatives, whom we trustingly elected to power. If only our representatives, MLAs, MPs and local body members had done their job passionately with concern pushing the government officials to discharge their duties and deliver, our city would have been much better than what it is.
Cry, my beloved Mysore!
