It’s an example of private initiative at its best. A little developed spot on the city’s outskirts is today a hub of industrial activity, boasting of the best of facilities in sanitation and transport. The large buildings with their fancy facades that speak of wealth and class bear no resemblance to the rolling tracts of vacant land that once existed here. It has taken but two decades to create Electronic City thanks to the vision of IT czars like N. R. Narayan Murthy and Azim Premji, but now that the finished product is everybody’s envy, it appears to have caught the eye of the BBMP, which is readying to take it over.
It’s resolution of Wednesday to merge Electronic City with areas under its jurisdiction has, expectedly, led to a chorus of protests with scores of Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of various companies demanding in unison, “Why are you messing with us?” They clearly fear going the way of the rest of the city with its potholed and garbage-filled roads if the BBMP begins to wield its authority over an area that has been doing just fine without its interference.
Its hard to understand why the BBMP wants to step in now when the Electronic City Industries Association (ELCIA) has converted Electronic City from a godforsaken place to a hotspot of industrial activity and a prime location, says association CEO, N. S. Rama, pointing out that ELCIA has been operating like a parallel civic body, taking care of the power supply, water, lighting, solid waste management, sanitary and transportation needs of the area for decades.
“We often have many international delegates dropping in and so the garbage cannot be allowed to pile up in any corner of Electronic City. A dedicated plant has been set up for solid waste management to make sure the locality is clean and tidy,” says Ms Rama, noting that ELCIA is a role model when it comes to paying property tax to the local panchayat. It also contributes heavily to society through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and is now planning to attract Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) to Electronic City, she adds.
Clearly disappointed by the turn of events, the CEO reveals the ELCIA has, in fact, appealed to the state government to give Electronic City an Industrial Township tag with more autonomy instead of merging it with a civic body like the BBMP.
While the protest grows, civic experts have a solution. Electronic City, they say, can be brought under the ambit of the BBMP for administration but the ELCIA should remain in charge of its maintenance and in return receive a tax rebate in what could then be a perfect blend of public private partnership. Seems a workable solution worth exploring, if only to stop the authorities from making a mess of yet another happy aspect of the city’s development.