Urban News

Ravindra and other committee members inspected the underpass on Thursday. The chairman blamed Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for the delay.

He said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had paid Rs 1 crore to the BWSSB to shift water pipelines from the underpass site. He said the project had been stuck because the BWSSB did not do its work.

He said the BWSSB would finish the work in 15 days. The work on the underpass will begin within a month after the BWSSB finishes its work, he said.

The standing committee chairman added that the K R Market flyover too would be repaired. He said Rs 3.15 crore would be spent to repair and maintain roads in the area. He directed the officials to ensure that the roads were asphalted.

The team inspected other areas of the market where violations had taken place. Ravindra said a hotel had encroached more than 8-10 feet of the road.

Also, the committee noted that nearly one-and-a-half acre of Palike land was encroached.

Ravindra asked the officials to recover the land at the earliest and to demolish all properties that had encroached the Palike’s land.

Further, Ravindra said Rs 22 lakh would be spent to renovate the dilapidated parking lot on J C Road. He said they were exploring options to give the top floor of the multi-storied parking lot on rent to shops of car accessories. He said such moves would increase the BBMP’s revenue.

The dark side

The inspection team stumbled upon used condoms, liquor bottles and other garbage in a small space under the K R Market flyover. The team discovered a big box of condoms in a nearby public toilet. They suspected that the caretakers of the toilet know about the ongoing activities. Miffed by eyesore of garbage and stink from the toilet, the committee members lambasted the officials for the pathetic condition.

In addition to this, BBMP commissioner Siddaiah had stated that he would send back many of officials on deputation as they were not needed in the Palike.

Responding to this, the BBMP has asked 73 officials working in various capacities to return to their parent departments.

Among them are nine executive engineers, 16 assistant executive engineers, 19 assistant engineers, six junior engineers, five assistant controllers (Revenue), 10 first division clerks and eight accountants.