On the one hand, we have been reading repeatedly in the press that the BBMP is broke, and not in a oposition to pay contractors' bills in hundreds/ thousands of crores. On the other, is this splurge on Eurocon tiles for the footpaths in 3rd block, Koramangala (near Embassy Tranquil).
Well, nobody would have grudged them that, if at least the tiles had been laid properly. The pictures tell their own tale.
A friend, who drives past the road regularly, tells me that the pavements have now become the ideal parking spaces for cars. So, was that the intent, to begin with? The car tyres don't complain about the uneven surfaces, or a few broken tiles, here or there too, I guess.
Muralidhar Rao
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I have taken a few photos
I have taken a few photos this monday, and here are the examples how owners are thinking of these footpaths as their extended garage.
Deepak
The next PIL against BBMP
The next PIL against BBMP shall be as regards the maintenance of streetlights.
The Karnataka government has come out with a poorly drafted Right to Recall Sarpanch law. In my opinion. right to recall should have been extended to the municipality level as well.
some rare thick skinned lot
Now, it's the turn of the electrical contractors
They alleged that about 125 contractors had not been paid for 20 months. “We have families and the workers depend on the salaries we give. If we do not get money, all will suffer,” said Shridhar, president of the BBMP Electrical Contractors Association.
All street lights are managed by the BBMP and complaints from consumers are routed to these workers. “We have been working without payment for several months and all are in debt,” said KS Mohan. He added that it is difficult for 125 contractors to maintain workers without any salary.
“If the BBMP fails to clear our dues, we will turn off the street lights, including those where the BBMP commissioner resides.
For the full text of the report in the New Indian Express, click here.
The imbalances in the budgeting itself have been brought out here, and even years after these anomalies have been pointed out, the government is just not bothered about effecting the necessary correctives.
The question also arises as to how many of the neta's even understand the baiscs of governance. They are there essentially because of their ability to get votes largely through doling out "bhagya's".
Nero fiddling as Rome burns
maha bhrashta palike
BBMP street level work
BBMP is concreting the streets mainly in outskirts of the city. Most of these streets had strorm water drains. To prepare for concreting the stomwater drains were filled up. This is poor planning. It is true that waste water was also flowing in those drains. But after concreting is done, the rainwater has to flow on the roads. The sanitary pipes laid by BWSSB I believe is low quality sandstone pipes. Sometimes, it seems concreting is done to protect these pipes. There is also no provision to stop the breeding of mosquitoes in these sanitary pipes like nets, etc.
Dust, stormwater drain
When there are no stormwater drains, the dust does not have any place to go when street is swept or even in rain, or it has to be carried out. It can only go up and the houses around becomes dusty.
Road to No-where in the heart of Koramangala
This extravaganza, obviously the brain-child of the local MLA (more on him is accessible here) came in for some harsh criticism (and deservedly too) from prominent citizens of the local community, on the "SaveKoramangala YahooGroup". Some of it is reproduced below:
Now that BBMP is being
Now that BBMP is being superseeded, when would somebody be avaiable to answer your very vaild questions?
Govt of Karnataka 2500 Crore projects for Bangalore ???
If the GOK is willing to spend so much money from its pockets, then why BBMP is so bankrupt ??
Infrastructure works worth Rs 300 cr. sent to begin in city
http://www.thehindu.com/n...
Close on the heels of committing itself before the Supreme Court to hold elections to the BBMP within three months, the State government is in the process of rolling out massive infrastructure works at a cost of Rs. 3,500 crore.
Most works are expected to be completed within six months to a year, while three major projects would require about two years’ time.
Disclosing this to reporters on Monday, Bengaluru city in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the funds included unspent an amount of Rs. 1,000 crore from the allocation under the Nagarothana scheme in 2014-15, the present year’s budgetary allocation of Rs. 1,500 crore and an additional allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah a few days ago. The proposed works include widening of Sarjapur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Tannery Road, Varthur Road, Dinnur Main Road and Subratho Mukherjee Road, besides construction of multi-level parking facility at Freedom Park and Gandhinagar.
These works will be in addition to the proposed matrix of elevated corridors comprising a North-South corridor from Central Silk Board to Hebbal and two East-West corridors from Jnanabharathi to Whitefield and KR Puram to Goraguntepalya. Rs. 50 crore has been earmarked for preparing a detailed project report for this endeavour.
3 flyovers, 2 years
A steel flyover would be built on a two-km stretch of J. C. Road from Minerva Circle to Town Hall at a cost of Rs. 139 crore. A 700-metre steel flyover would be built on Race Course Road at a cost of Rs. 57 crore, according to Bengaluru city in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy. A concrete flyover would come up on a stretch of 2.4 km between Ejipura and Kendriya Sadana at a cost of Rs. 214 crore, he said and noted that it would take about two years to complete these flyovers.
question of accountability
BBMP has not only failed to provide better infrastructure for citizens but has also failed to look after its own employees: It has not deducted the statutory payments like PF from BBMP employees' salaries in any of the eight zones.- - - Rao alleged that this is a serious offence and the officials concerned are liable to face criminal action. He said, "Deducting statutory payments and not remitting them within the stipulated time is a serious offence. This has been going on for months together and very likely with the full knowledge of the erstwhile BBMP commissioner for which he could be criminally liable."
For the full text of the report in the Bangalore Mirror, click here.
Now, it can't be that, as the Bangalore-in-charge minister, Mr Ramalinga Reddy (more on him is accessible here), was not aware of this. As such, he should also be held liable.
And, is this the person who is going to be lording over the so-called city development works projected to cost Rs 3,500 cr, cited in the post above? Shouldn't such massive works follow after a comprehensive plan has been put in place? And, for that, to begin with, hasn't there to be a visioning exercise to understand how we would like to see the city evolve in future? Have such thoughts ever crossed the minds of these worthies?
For all of the city's prowess in IT and so many other fields (including sports), it is unfortunate that there's such mediocrity in our political leadership.
BBMP smells rotten
"Residents of Kasturinagar, east Bengaluru, are puzzled why a newly blacktopped road in the area needs to be asphalted again, in less than a month.
Last month, they couldn't believe their luck when the arterial Kasturinagar Main Road was blacktopped. But again on May 2, residents were flummoxed to find that BBMP had floated a tender for asphalting and other works on the same road. "
more here
No transparency is the biggest bane of this city's administration and everyone wants to look away!