Our political leaders can still pull it off!

By Ashvini Ranjan

Apropos the article ‘How and why Mysuru lost the contest to be Smart City’ in SOM’s yesterday’s issue and also related news in other dailies, it is shocking to say the least, why Mysuru lost out.  

We deserve an explanation from our elected representatives and administrators as to why our city was not included for the Smart City Mission scheme.  What is even more surprising is that even our CM being from Mysuru has not mattered.

One of the explanations being made is that Mysuru did not score well on certain parameters that included existing service levels, past track record of reforms, implementation of JNNURM etc is not convincing.  Are the track records and performance parameters of other cities chosen for Smart City Mission such as Shimoga, Belgavi-Dharvad, Davangere, Tumkuru any better than ours?  

Does not our city being the cleanest city in the country for two consecutive years carry any weight ?  Or is the reason for not putting the extra effort by our elected representatives was because the company that would be created to handle the project be out of bounds for the politicians ?

Be that as it may,  there is still an opportunity to make it to the list of cities for the scheme.  The rules for eligibility is not cast in iron.  If our elected leaders make out a strong case, rules can be bent.  Will our leaders do it ?

Even assuming that all doors are shut and we are not eligible for the funding, it is not the end of the world.  The city can still raise the required funds both internally and by borrowing to implement the scheme ?Don’t we have the required courage and intelligence to pull it off ?  Will a tall leader stand up for the task ?