Covid-hit Ashwath Narayan gives patient hearing to citizen groups

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who was tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, gave a patient hearing to citizen groups, policy experts, industry stakeholders and key decision makers on Sunday.

Despite being infected with the deadly virus, the deputy Chief Miniser held a virtual meeting with the citizen groups for more than one hour to hear out their problems.

At a virtual town hall meeting with the Deputy CM on Bengaluru Mobility, the citizen groups, policy experts, industry stakeholders submitted various recommendations to ease the traffic congestion in the city and ways to strengthen the public transportation system in the city.

The recommendations are part of the ongoing #BengaluruMoving campaign, a concerted effort by various organisations and individuals that has been carried out in the last few months.

The campaign aims to highlight the need for first and last mile connectivity, bus priority lanes, sustainable and non-motorised transport (NMT) solutions and investment in urban transport infrastructure.

Speaking at the townhall, the Deputy CM said, "Building a transport system that is beneficial for both commuters and environment is the top priority of the government. In line with this, we are taking steps to increase adoption of public transport from 41% to 73% through a regulated public private partnership (PPP) model. Road congestion is one of the biggest stumbling block to the city's economic growth. Your report will give us insights into what each stakeholder needs."

Anjum Parwez, Principal Secretary (transport), pointed out that "The government is working towards improving coordination among various bodies concerned with mobility. We are looking at adopting several innovations that had worked elsewhere such as the TrinTrin bicycle system in Mysore. We are exploring the possibilty of implementing such innovation in Bengaluru."

Dr. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, "We have installed over 1,500 cameras across the city to monitor the vehicular movement and collected data to predict dense traffic hotspots to decongest the city. The participation of industry stakeholders and citizens is crucial to bring awareness. The Bangalore traffic police will do everything required to achieve the government's vision and encourage the use of public transport in Bengaluru."

Prof. Rajeev Gowda, Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha); N.A. Haris, MLA (Shanthinagar) and Former Chairman BMTC; Nandeisha Reddy, Chairman BMTC, Revathy Ashok, CEO, Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.Pac); Rajiv Aggarwal, Head of Public Policy South Asia - India, Uber; Pawan Mulukutla, Director, Electric Mobility, World Resources Institute; Kamal Bali,President and MD, Volvo India; and Athira Menon, Head of Public Policy - South India and Sri Lanka, Uber.