Garbage, traffic, potholes: Residents pour out their woes in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Garbage, traffic, footpath encroachments, potholes, parking, polluted drinking water and bad roads were the top complaints raised by the residents of East Zone on Saturday, during the 'Janaspandana' progarmme organised by the BBMP to redress people’s problems.
Mr Ganesh, a resident of OMBR Layout, said, “Vacant sites in our area have turned into mini-dumpyards and they have become fertile grounds for rodents and snakes, which stray into neighbouring houses."
Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George replied, “We will cancel allotments of sites that are lying vacant for long. A committee will be set up under Additional Chief Secretary Mahendra Jain and BDA Commissioner Rajkumar Khatri to look into the issue. Vacant sites will be cleaned and the cost incurred will be recovered from site owners.”
Commuters of Richmond Road and Residency Road complained that school and college vans parked on either sides of the road from 9 am to 3 pm affected the movement of traffic. Mr Abhishek Goyal, DCP (Traffic – East), said, “We held meetings with school and college managements and asked them to park their vans inside their campus or to come only to drop and pick up students. In the coming days, we will slap heavy fines on vans that are parked on the roadside and tow them.”
When the residents complained that government officials failed to respond to their repeated complaints, Mr George slammed BBMP, Bescom and BWSSB officials for being lax. He said, "At present, we only have powers to suspend government officials for dereliction of duty and approving illegal plans. In the coming days, we will empower ourselves to initiate more stringent action against such officers.”
Residents demanded that during the next meeting, officials should present an action taken report on the complaints raised in Saturday’s meeting. Otherwise, the entire exercise is a waste, they commented. The BBMP will hold Janaspandana programmes at all its zones and aims at taking it to each ward
