BENGALURU: The Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), which represents hundreds of apartment complexes across Bengaluru, is organising an Apartment Rally between 9.30 am and 11 am on Saturday to make their voice heard on the harassment they are being subjected to by government and civic agencies. Silent human chains will be formed by residents across the city.
Talking about harassment over Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), BAF president R. Balasubramanian said, “Apartments constructed in the ’70s, 80s and 90s, which don’t contribute to pollution, have been mandated to install STPs, which is impossible.” He said, “Experts say it is structurally unsafe to retrofit STPs in older buildings, which might collapse. For apartments built since 2007 with properly functioning STPs, KSPCB has been issuing notices saying they should not let out even properly treated water, which is completely absurd. In all these cases, apartments have been threatened with disconnection of power and water connections and criminal action despite being law-abiding and non-polluting citizens.”
BAF vice-president Muralidhar Rao said, “BWSSB charges apartment residents 300% more for water compared to individual houses. BBMP collects solid waste management cess from apartments, but won’t collect their segregated garbage.
Apartments not connected to the sewage network are being forced to pay sanitation cess. Many apartments are being denied access to Cauvery water connection despite having paid lakhs of rupees for it. The harassment list is endless.”
BAF general secretary Srikanth Narasimhan said, “There is a high level of anger and discontentment among lakhs of apartment residents because of the harassment we are being subjected to. With elections approaching, we hope that the government listens to our voice and helps resolve these issues soon.”
