A welcome Initiative by Mr. Manivannan BESCOM MD

In Bangalore Trees pruning by BESCOM task force is a familiar sight. Often the sore point is “Who should clear the debris” I was delighted and impressed while reading to day’s Bangalore Mirror article. Below is an excerpt of the same:-

BESCOM managing director P Manivannan then suggested the AB cabling method. He revealed that the trees would not need to be pruned. Wrapping power lines in a thick cable was also safe method. But BESCOM had a rider – the association should chip in 50 percent of the project cost. This meant that residents would have to raise nearly 7 lakh, or 9,000 per residence. 

    It didn’t deter committee members of the association. The job of convincing all and raising the funds was taken up in earnest. Of course those campaigning for the project faced a barrage of questions. Why should we pay? It is Besom’s job. Are we not paying taxes?     

A group of committee members took upon themselves to visit each house in the area coming under their association and began having discussions at a personal level. 

    “Since 80 per cent of the residents are owners themselves and have been living here for a long time, we used our personal rapport to convince our members. It was a voluntary contribution and we could not force them to pay up. Majority of them said yes as they were also concerned about the greenery and environment” Association treasurer Chetana Marla told BANGALOREMIRROR. 

    The deal with Besom required that they pay their half of the bargain upfront before work commenced. In three months, the committee members raised the funds. After all the paper work and official sanctions work finally commenced this week. 
 

Manivannan sir is an officer with a difference indeed. For the BM article Click here [1]

Picture 1. The work in progress