The growing gap between the public and the decision makers came to the fore, quite evident from the frustrated audience, at an event on violation of zonal regulations organised as part of DH-PV and Citizens for Civic Amenities Forum.
Under the title, ‘Are residential areas turning commercial against their will?’, DH-PV provided a platform to discuss the best ways to regulate commercialisation. However, the frustration and anger of the public boiled over as members of the audience started screaming and yelling at the BBMP officials for inaction against those violating zonal regulations.
Mayor Gangabike Mallikarjun, Joint Commissioner (East) G M Ravindra and BBMP Chief Health Officer Dr Manoranjan Hegde tried their best to answer the questions raised by the public in all composure and did manage to make some interesting points.
A majority of the citizen activists and members of the general public, however, took part in the discussion. Some even called themselves the silent majority, which would rather listen to experts and understand the issue.
Srinivas Alavilli of Citizens for Bengaluru said the anger was the result of the frustration at the system’s failure to deliver. “Though people know that such platforms are meant for bigger discussions, their anger takes over as years of negative experience on the ground will not leave room for hopes to change through sustained dialogue,” he said.
Alavilli said at the centre of such fracas is the failure of representational democracy. “Only a handful of the participants tried to raise personal issues. The MLAs are working for themselves and the corporators are no different. So the citizens are following them,” he said.
Girish K, an advocate, seconded Alavilli’s opinion. “A platform like that is a rare occurrence, essentially bridges between the officials and the public. However, people try to push for what they believe as their rights at such places when officials become easy targets,” he said.