BDA must shed ‘broker’ image, regain public trust: DKS | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Bangalore Development Authority should no longer be synonymous with “business” and “brokers” and must undergo a professional makeover to regain public trust, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said Tuesday.At a training workshop for BDA employees on ‘Administrative reforms and public grievance redressal’, held ahead of the agency’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Shivakumar urged staff to shed age-old bureaucratic traits of apathy and inordinate delays, and adapt to the rapid changes taking place in the world.

“No matter how intelligent we are, there is always a need to keep learning through knowledge and experience until the end of our lives. New generations and systems will continue to emerge. We once multiplied numbers manually, then came calculators, followed by computers, and now we are in the era of artificial intelligence. There is no longer any need to measure land with tapes—it can now be done using drones,” he said.Referring to the general perception that nothing works in BDA without greasing the palms of officials, Shivakumar said: “I learnt through my sources the kind of corruption or efficiency that exists at every stage. It took me six months to get a list of agents engaged in business inside BDA. We must change BDA’s reputation to something our conscience can accept. Instead of shuffling files around, seek solutions with a positive attitude. People in distress come to BDA, they should come to you with great respect.”One of the measures to usher in transparency is to digitally scanning and storing all documents. He said a town planning college in Bengaluru is also on the anvil. box‘Will not denotify land’Referring to the Peripheral Ring Road, now rechristened the Bengaluru Business Corridor, Shivakumar reiterated the govt’s resolve to execute the project, saying, “No matter how much opposition this project faces or how many legal challenges arise, no one in the country can offer a better compensation option than this. I have informed the commissioners that, under no circumstances, will I de-notify even an inch of land during my tenure.“—Eshwari Sajjan