Ignored at home, BATF to help Delhi

BANGALORE: The BATF will stop breathing in the next 45 days in Bangalore, where it gloriously began, but its exemplary idea will be resurrected in New Delhi and other cities keen to kindle this voluntary spirit of partnership for better civic service delivery.
The Congress-led coalition government dilly-dallied and then fell silent on the fate of the BATF.So the agency has begun the process of shutting shop and moving to a more welcoming environment.
BATF chairman and Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani who paid the salaries, rentals for the office in Richmond Town, the computers and telephone rentals and power charges at Rs 1.8 lakh a month will stop signing the cheques. Nilekani said: "We will lead this to closure after handing over different projects to agencies concerned. I have spent five years leading BATF; now it is time for change."
BATF was formed through a government order in 1999-2000, but the present coalition has not issued a fresh order extending its lease of life. Chief Minister N Dharam Singh has neither said ''yes,'' nor ''no,'' for the BATF here. But Delhi has said "yes." BATF member Kalpana Kar recently met with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who was very receptive.
Dikshit was given a presentation on the issues —primary health, solid waste management, sanitation, roads, redevelopment of police stations, municipal offices, licensing offices and government schools, Fund-Based Accounting System and property tax.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has signed an MoU for fund-based accounting and other initiatives based on these BATF projects. Delhi industrialists, bureaucrats and the political system are keen on creating a catalysing body on the lines of BATF, said Kar.
As the BATF winds up operations here, she has started completing the documentation of all the work done by BATF in Bangalore. The door-to-door solid waste collection system (Swachcha Bangalore), quality toilets (Nirmala Bangalore), One-Way-System, improvisation of bus stops, etc. "Perhaps the new stake holders will find use for these," she added.
What BATF did was provide an opportunity and credibility to the Public-Private-Partnership, and although BATF spent Rs 5.1 crore during this period, they managed to get back over 40 times, that is upwards of Rs 200 crore, spent on Bangalore through various programmes. BATF upgraded the service delivery mechanism here, which now they will do in Delhi.
The BATF managed to get push carts to collect door-to-door garbage costing Rs 5,500 a piece. Today, the BCC does not have an annual maintenance contract in place and the net result is that many of these carts are lying around with broken wheels or parts missing.
Nirmala Bangalore toilets are without water because BCC has not paid the BWSSB bills. "What will happen to these fine projects," ask anxious citizens of Bangalore.