00:00In India, failing infrastructure is hardly new, right?
00:04We keep seeing it every day in the national capital, in hinterlands, in other cities as well.
00:08But what happens when citizens stop waiting for the system and start fixing it themselves?
00:14In Bengaluru, one CEO did exactly that.
00:17Instead of pushing back, the government is now welcoming the citizen action.
00:21We're talking about Siddharth Dailani.
00:23He walked on the same putt path in Koramangala every day
00:27and he saw the stretch be badly damaged.
00:31He tried the official route.
00:33Complaints were raised with the BBMP.
00:35Emails were sent to the Greater Bengaluru Authority.
00:37Service ticket was filed as well.
00:40And even the GBA helpline was contacted.
00:43And according to the man, there was no response.
00:47So, he decided to stop waiting.
00:49He spent 2,700 rupees from his own pocket,
00:53bought the material and paid for the work and got the cement ramp built over the broken stretch.
01:01One damaged section of footpaths now made usable.
01:05And importantly, the ramp also makes the stretch easier to navigate for wheelchair users,
01:09senior citizens as well, people with strollers.
01:12But the story took an unexpected turn after the government's response.
01:16Karnataka minister has now welcomed the initiative, saying it is a good thing that the citizen chose to fix the
01:21problem himself.
01:25And that just creates a very unusual civic equation, right?
01:29A citizen complains, the system does not respond, the citizen pays out of their own pocket,
01:33apart from paying for the taxes, of course.
01:36Gets the system fixed, and the government is there, standing and saying, well done.
01:42There is certainly something, well, positive in citizens taking ownership of the spaces they use every day.
01:49But there is also the question that cannot be ignored.
01:52If you and I can fix in a few hours with just 2,700 rupees,
01:57get that infrastructure fixed, get that road fixed,
02:02what is holding back the government?
02:05So, we caught up with Mr. Siddharth to understand this conundrum.
02:09Is that how he sees the story as well?
02:11Take a look.
02:13This is my daily walking path.
02:15I walk here every day and I observe that the footpath is broken here.
02:20I cannot imagine anyone with a stroller or a wheelchair anytime using this footpath.
02:25The rest of the footpath, as you can see, is good.
02:28But this junction is completely broken.
02:30And it used to irritate me a lot.
02:32I raised the ticket on BBMP portal.
02:34I sent an email to GBA, complained on their helpline,
02:38got some automated response, but they never acted on it.
02:42So, I finally decided to do it myself.
02:44What was the money that you spent and how did you figure out the people that can do this job?
02:48This costed me overall 2,700 rupees.
02:52I met a friend who is into real estate and he was more than happy to provide me a supervisor
03:00and a couple of labor.
03:02So, he did the supervision work.
03:04I paid the labor and we spent around 1,700 rupees on the raw material.
03:09We purchased the cement and some handheld tools.
03:13Overall, it costed me 2,700 rupees.
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