BJP puts BBMP office in lock-up'

Bengaluru: Angered and frustrated with pothole ridden roads and innocent motorists losing their precious lives, the BJP workers protested against the BBMP’s ineptness in handling the situation.

The protesting BJP workers also locked up the BBMP head office gates symbolically and shouted anti-Congress slogans.

Former deputy chief minister R. Ashok, who spearheaded the protest, attacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and squarely blamed him for recent pothole related deaths.

“There is no guarantee whether a person who takes out his bike in the morning returns home safely. Safety is something that has become totally elusive due to the negligence and shoddy work by the BBMP authorities,” Ashok said. A whopping Rs 22 crore has been spent on filling potholes, but there is no sign them getting filled. This is nothing but squandering public money, he added.

Mr Siddaramaiah has been making tall claims about spending Rs. 4,000 crores for Bengaluru development. Where is the development happening? It has become invisible and he is answerable to this present condition of Bengaluru, Mr Ashok said.

He also attacked Bengaluru Development Minister K. J. George and said that he has been making irresponsible and inhuman statements on the pothole related deaths.

How can Mr George say that people are dying due to negligence while riding even when they have lost their lives while trying to avoid potholes, he questioned. The fact that police have been filling pothles in some areas is a shame on BBMP and the state government.

The protesters burnt an effigy of Mr George and raised slogans against the government and BBMP. They also alleged that the problems were caused by irregularities and corruption in the BBMP. Police and BBMP staff tried to prevent the BJP workers from besieging the BBMP and locked up the four entry gates from inside.

There was a heavy deployment of police personnel to ensure that there was no law and order problem.

Protest to  continue
The protest against the BBMP’s maladministration will continue under the leadership of BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa. The BBMP office will be locked up to get them to work and to make Bengaluru pothole free, the activists said.