A 1948 invitation for the inauguration of Jayanagar, one of Bengaluru’s first planned neighbourhoods, has gone viral after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya shared it on X (formerly Twitter). The post has started a public discussion about how Bengaluru lost its early vision of careful urban planning and good civic design.
Bengaluru’s Lost Vision
Surya said the old invitation is a reminder of how Bengaluru changed from a well-planned city to one filled with traffic, potholes, and chaos. He noted that in earlier times, city-building was treated as nation-building, and engineers and architects, not contractors, led development projects.
He explained that Jayanagar was planned by the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) — the organization that later became the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). The layout was inspired by cities like Tokyo, London, and New York, featuring a grid-style design, separate areas for homes and businesses, wide tree-lined roads, and broad footpaths.
From Planning to Chaos
Surya pointed out that even the Governor-General of India was invited to inaugurate Jayanagar, showing how seriously urban planning was taken back then. Today, however, he said the city has lost that focus.
“Where there were wide, walkable roads, now we see potholes and parking messes. Where civic spaces once existed, there are encroachments and flyovers,” Surya wrote.
He blamed successive governments for turning agencies like the BDA into “contractors’ departments”, focusing on short-term politics instead of long-term city planning.
A Call for Change
Surya listed examples of poor planning in modern Bengaluru — roads without logic, incomplete footpaths, flood projects launched after disasters, and metro lines added without coordination.
He urged city officials and planners to “plan before building” and design cities for people, not just vehicles.
“The story of Jayanagar,” Surya said, “should remind us to build Bengaluru with vision again — not as a symbol of neglect, but as a model city for the future.”
