Seeking citizen input to the PIL

In the Affidavit for Yelahanka Zone for Ward 10 BBMP has mentioned that there is a footpath of width 1.5 mts along the stretch of 2 kms from Adiga's Hotel, Vidyaranyapura till Doddabommasandra Arch. It is very clear that BBMP has given wrong information as more than half of this stretch is devoid of footpath.

BBMP has also mentioned that it has identified 31 encroachments, removed 19 of them and the remaining 12 will be removed by 30th September, 2014. Whereas the truth is that BBMP has not removed a single encroachment along this 2 km stretch.

In the affidavit for Bommanahalli zone for ward number 193 and 192 BBMP claims they have removed 15 obstructions. But the fact is they have not even moved a small pebble aside. The sorry state of affairs continue. Since I'm out of station I'm unable to take pictures. Will do attach them once I get back. When they say there is no foot path, that much is very ture. There is no foot path at all, all along this road.

The new affidavit dated 22/9 has many differences from the previous affidavit.  The road lengths are different, the footpath widths are different.  Overall, comes across as a very inconsistent story.  Highly disappointing, but not surprising.  In Ward 85, here are some examples of problem areas which contradicts the affidavit.  All photos taken on 11 Oct 2014 by me.

Near Kundalahalli gate - on HAL-Varthur road, there is a very busy bus stop with no footpath. There are also deep drains into whicvh people have actually fallen and been hurt. Clearly in image below, people have no safe place to walk.

Citizens got fruistrated and the group worked with various stakeholders to install some slabs for a short stretch

But it shortly ends and we are back to no footpath

The condition on the other side of the road is worse.

See footpath disappearing at karunashraya and the pathetic footpath ahead. See the guy negotiating the road near karunashraya?

Now see the fotpath just after Karunashraya

There are many more examples, which I can keep posting.  These footpaths have pretty much been like this for the past several years.  There are many more examples of unwalkable footpaths.  BBMPs affidavits are inconsistent and flawed.

As a parting picture, here is the glorious "footpath" where the risk of falling into a deep drain is huge.

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As I walked on Vasanth Nagar 8th main on a shopping errand, I saw workers demolishing unauthorized encroachments on the footpath on one side (south side) of the road. It is going to be interesting to see whether the extensions reappear, Some of the shops had generously borrowed space from the footpath to erect stairs since their floors are at about 2 feet above street level. Not sure how they will provide easy access now without some reconfiguration. Can't wait to see jugaad in action!

The High Court on Wednesday directed the Commissioner, BBMP, to initiate action against officials who have failed to clear encroachment of footpath adjoining Yeshwanthpur railway station. 

During the hearing of a petition seeking to evict encroachment of footpath near Yeshwanthpur railway station, the division bench comprising Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice R B Budhihal questioned the BBMP commissioner, why no action has been taken against the authority concerned who failed to clear encroachment even after seven years of filing the petition.

The bench directed the commissioner to issue show cause notice to the officials concerned and seek an explanation. “If there is any dereliction of duty on the part of the officials, suspend them,” the chief justice said.

http://www.deccanherald.c...

when will the officers stand up and act ???  Do the MLAs, Corporators feel good about these remarks and  the way city has been going thru on footpath, garbage, water clogging, pollution.

1. Today’s hearing started on the dot at 10:30 PM and literally seconds later the first case of the day came up. One is struck by how businesslike the proceedings are.

2.  (After a couple of cases were disposed off, the court took up the case against BBMP for dereliction of duty in clearing garbage in Wards 37 (Yeshwanthapura) and 45 (Malleswaram), especially the market areas in these wards. Even though it is not directly related to our PIL I will comment on this case parenthetically because of a common thread, namely BBMP’s complete abdication of duty and a tendency to deflect responsibility to others as well as the subpoena to the Commissioner of BBMP to appear before the court. The Commissioner was also joined by a couple of junior officials responsible for these wards.  This case is remarkable in that the court has issued repeated orders over SEVEN years to BBMP to clean up the mess. Today, the BENCH hauled the commissioner over the coals for his inaction, questioned him on the contract to a private party for clearing garbage and the liability for their failure to perform the duties in the contract. More significantly, the BENCH ordered the Commissioner to withhold the wages of the responsible officials until the mess was cleaned up)

3. Our PIL came up next along with three other petitions that have been clubbed with ours. One of these cases relates to the tragic drowning death of an 8-year old girl, Geethalakshmi filed by NBF.

4. The court first heard the NBF case first. The session did not kick off well for BBMP with the BENCH being quite upset that BBMP had not designated an advocate to appear for it in this case at the previous hearing. Their counsel Mr. Narasimhan who had appeared for them in our PIL had maintained that he was not prepared to represent BBMP in the NBF case. It was clear that the tone for the rest of the session was set and it was going to be a harrowing experience for the BBMP chief. At one stage during the BENCH’s angry remarks, the young counsel who was representing BBMP stood up to make a point and was told in no uncertain terms to sit down and not speak.

5. The BENCH asked the Commissioner if he and his officers are unable to see the “death traps” on the streets. The BENCH showed the Commissioner photographs and the BBMP chief mentioned that there were a “few places” where footpaths and drain covers have to be repaired. The BENCH asked if any official in BBMP is being held responsible for the death and the response was that an Asst. Exec. Engineer has been suspended and a Junior Engineer was sent back to his parent organization, PWD. The BENCH then asked if a FIR has been filed and in whose name. There was some obfuscation at this point and the police officer who is investigating also appeared. Evidently, the AEE and the JE were arrested and released on bail and that investigations are on-going.

6. The BBMP chief at this point talked about how the drain cleaning work was handled through a chain of contractors and sub contractors (essentially passing the buck) from BBMP through Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd to their sub-contractor.

7. WP 13731 (our PIL) is heard at this point. The BBMP chief starts the by now familiar tactic of pointing to obstructions created by street vendors and how his hands are now tied because of the new Street Vendors Act 2014 passed by the supreme court. The BENCH then goes through a 10-minute tutorial on this for his benefit (Have you read the act? What provisions have you made for hawkers? Have you declared any norms for the city to accommodate street vendors?  etc.)  Once again the Chief of BBMP tries to disown any responsibility by saying that the state government needs to act. After telling the chief that he should, like a literate person he is, read the act in its entirety and start acting on it. And then this nugget from BENCH – “The law (Street Vendor Act) is NOT coming in the way of maintaining footpaths”!

8. This is followed by a an exchange which I feel is hard to summarize and so I reproduce as much of it as I can remember:

              BBMP Chief: We will submit all the information on footpath conditions.

Counsel for the drains PIL: Here are the photographs of drains and footpaths that BBMP claim to have been repaired.

              BENCH: Mr. Commissioner, can you not see the state of the drains and                       footpaths? Do you have the guts to suspend officers for dereliction of duties?               If you can’t do this, we will issue orders.

Counsel for PIL: Permanent structures have come up on footpaths and they should be demolished under rule 282 (check on this, I am not sure about the specifics)

BENCH to BBMP Chief: There is complete lawlessness under your authority.

               Counsel for PIL: We need a (third party) committee to oversee BBMP

BENCH: If we start doing their work, what will officials of BBMP do?

BBMP Chief: We will appoint a high-level officer to oversee progress.

               BENCH: You have to dismiss officers not appoint them, and don’t do it in the                name of the court.

BBMP Chief: We will take action.

BENCH: You will have to show progress.

Counsel for PIL: BBMP will have to record progress on a spreadsheet and we will follow up and assist the court.

BENCH to BBMP Chief: Do not keep passing the buck. Have you visited any other country? Have you seen any place outside India where the conditions are this pathetic?

Counsel for PIL: A bigger issue is that the tenure of a BBMP Chief is only two years.

BENCH: There have been municipal commissioners in the country who have cleaned up cities in far less time. A good commissioner can repair an entire road overnight.

The hearing ended on this optimistic note. The next hearing is set for November 25.

Set of pictures pertaining to Indiranagar, submitted to the court on the 11th Dec, may be accessed here. In fact, nothing has changed in any of these places.

These are common situation in Bangalore and BBMP officials are blind to these like BAT bird which goes by sound only.

The high court on Monday directed BBMP not to construct any more arches on Bengaluru roads and hinder traffic movement. - - -The petitioner, who said construction of two arches in her area has led to traffic congestion, said there are over 500 such arches built across the city.

For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.

Between the BBMP and the Traffic police (who readily admitted to it being part of their job - check here), can they at least now get down to the job?

And, it's not just arches - the court had also directed the BBMP to remove all kinds of obstructions, hazards, encroachments from the footpaths, in earlier PIL, which is what this blog is all about. Browsing through the same, one can access any number of pictures (as also albums of pictures) typical of the kind of problems a pedestrian faces on a daily basis.

It'll be a shame if the citizens have to go back to the High Court complaining of contempt of its orders.