Bengaluru: Is it right to get excited? Do we finally have an administrator who can set the city right? Only ten days into the job, and this hard taskmaster, a man of few words but no pushover, Mr. T.M Vijay Bhaskar has taken charge.
He’s a taskmaster, a man of few words and his actions speak louder than his words! He’s the city’s new administrator T.M Vijay Bhaskar. When Mr Bhaskar took charge, some of the former bureaucrats were skeptical as to whether the submissive, soft-spoken civil servant would do justice to his new role.
Ten days on the job and the man of few words has taken stock of the BBMP affairs. Mr Bhaskar has suspended two officials and has repatriated one engineer for not disposing of garbage, all in a week. And that’s not all. The top officer is tech-savvy too. Not only does he hold frequent conversations with top cop M.N Reddi on Twitter, he has instructed all the zonal chiefs to open their own Twitter accounts and redress public grievances. His message to them is quite clear. “People are more accessible on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. Make use of the social media to serve the people better.” In just three days, Mr Bhaskar has 1,259 followers already!
If you ask him how lax officials have responded to his initiatives, he quickly covers up for them. “The BBMP has earned itself a very bad name and most of the officials are upset about it. They want to prove the people wrong and that the BBMP is not only about corruption and bribe. They too want to see a change in the system,” he says.
Meanwhile, it’s not only the BBMP officials whom Mr Bhaskar has taken into confidence.
The lower rung workers like pourakarmikas too have got their due attention. Mr Bhaskar directed ward officials to take pictures of pourakarmikas (municipal workers) and the machinery they use to clear garbage and send it on WhatsApp to senior officers in order to bring in more transparency in the system.
In a first, details of a project completed or ongoing are available on the BBMP website and by clicking on Job Number view, citizens can gain access to the works completed in their wards/areas. Mr Bhaskar is expected to be in the BBMP for another year. Can he be the genie in the bottle the BBMP needs?
MLA Zameer Ahmed and BBMP administrator T.M. Vijay Bhaskar interact with residents of Padarayanapura (Ward no. 135) on Tuesday (Photo: KPN)
26 teams to check quality of works
BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik on Tuesday said that 26 teams of chief engineers will be formed to review the works completed in the city. During a meeting with contractors on Tuesday, Mr Naik said the teams will have former and current chief engineers and the bills will be cleared only after their quality checks “The teams will visit project spots, check quality, estimated list and technical details. Over 12,600 works will be reviewed by the teams,” he said.
The contractors said that they did not have objections to the inspection, but wanted their dues cleared. “Pending bills will only be cleared on priority basis and based on the availability of funds. Many works have been criticised for poor quality and the bills will be cleared only after reviewing and inspecting the works,” he said.
State Election Commission files plea before Supreme Court
Four days after the High Court division bench, headed by Chief Justice D.H. Waghela, set aside a single-judge order on holding the BBMP polls by May 30, the State Election Commission on Tuesday filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, seeking quashing of the division bench order.
The division bench set aside the single-bench order on April 24. The SEC has prayed before the apex court that the BBMP election should be held soon after the expiry of the previous council’s term and that the Palike cannot be in vacuum without elected representatives.
