NO FRESH PLANS: Actor Ramesh Aravind quizzing Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy at a workshop on `Bangalore Today and Tomorrow' in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy did not make the promised vision statement for Bangalore city on Saturday at the interactive workshop "Bangalore Today and Tomorrow" organised by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

Stating that he could not state his Government's vision for Bangalore as the legislature was in session, Mr. Kumaraswamy simply said that his Government would make Bangalore a metropolis that the other cities across the world would want to emulate.

No announcements were made on when the Master Plan 2015 developed by the BDA would be made public or when the proposed land acquisition policy would come into force.

The Chief Minister reiterated that farmers whose lands were being acquired for development ventures would be made shareholders in the projects.

"Our aim is to increase the economic health of farmers through our policies," he said.

On regularisation of revenue sites, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that while the Government would regularise lands up to 50 x 80 dimension, it would not regularise lands of one acre and above.

He said the Government was committed to bridging the divide between the rich and the poor.

To this effect, he directed officials present to come up with ways in which people could be given free houses.

Mr. Kumaraswamy promised to implement programmes to make Bangalore a slum free city. Promising a roof over every city dweller, he said the State Government would provide two lakh houses for the economically weaker sections at the earliest.

Stating that the Government was not giving undue importance to urban areas, the Chief Minister said that 1,000 villages had been identified for adoption.

They would be developed and amenities provided to bring them on par with cities.

Metro Rail

At the workshop, aired live in the State by Doordarshan, the Chief Minister sought to defend his father and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on the issue of Metro Rail for Bangalore.

Dismissing reports that Mr. Gowda was against Metro Rail in the city, he said that Mr. Gowda had been apprehensive as the project was very expensive.

CMCs blamed

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the spirit of the 74th Amendment to the Constitution would be infused in the administrative structure of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Defending the formation of the BBMP, he said the decisions taken by the erstwhile City Municipal Councils (CMCs) had been responsible for the problems of encroachment and building deviations

. He assured citizens that movement of files would not be delayed, stringent action would be taken against land mafia, and projects would be completed on time.

This was the first time in three years that a Chief Minister interacted with citizens, reminiscent of the now disbanded Bangalore Agenda Task Force annual summits, held during former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna's time.

"This interactive meeting is a step ahead of the BATF," Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

BBMP Commissioner K. Jairaj, BDA Commissioner M.K. Shankarlinge Gowda, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) chairman N.C. Muniyappa, Police Commissioner Neelam Achuta Rao, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) Managing Director Gonal Bheemappa, Karnataka Housing Board Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) Managing Director V. Madhu, and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Managing Director Upendra Tripathy made presentations about completed and forthcoming projects in the first session.

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