Bangalore, September 19: At his maiden meeting, Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana had to face a barrage of demands from councillors, cutting across party lines, who urged him to direct Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan to release frozen works amounting to around Rs. 522 crore.
The issue was raised by Janata Dal (S) Floor Leader R. Prakash, and soon many councillors also demanded that the 1,970 works frozen by former Commissioner Siddaiah be released.
However, Mr. Laksminarayan stated the projects will be sanctioned only after the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) gives a report based on the necessity of the work.
Optic fibre cable
Yediyur councillor N.R. Ramesh alleged that BBMP officials were hand-in-glove with the 18 service providers and had allowed them to lay optic fibre cables (OFC) indiscriminately across the city. He claimed that at least three service providers were using “banned technology” where road cutting was minimal.
“The BBMP can collect ground rent from them as per the amended Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. However, when the case is still in court, how did the officials permit the service providers to lay OFCs?” he said.
Mr. Sathyanarayana stated that a committee would be constituted to look into the issue. The committee, comprising TVCC’s chief engineer, three BJP councillors, and one councillor from the Congress and JD(S), would be formed. The committee will have to submit a report to the council in a month’s time, he said.
Rain damage
D.J. Halli councillor Sampath Raj, Dattatreya Temple ward councillor Sathyanarayan, R.R. Nagar councillor G.H. Ramachandra and Sarvagna Nagar councillor G. Bhvaneshwari said following heavy rains over the past few days, several houses had collapsed.
Mr. Lakshminarayan said that if the victims had proper documents establishing ownership over the land, the BBMP could cover them under the 22.75 per cent scheme. He said the construction of the pourakarmikas quarters in Kadirenapalya would be taken up soon by the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd.
Ruling Party Leader N. Nagaraju sought to know when the solid waste management projects would begin. He also said the BBMP’s ambitious plans were yet to see fruition. To this, Mr. Lakshminarayan said certain conditions in the tenders have been relaxed and the tenders would be floated soon.
Earlier, the Mayor said that one day in a week would be dedicated to clearing files. He said he would visit zonal offices where works of all wards coming under that particular zone will be verified and cleared.
