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New Mayor too wants a smooth ride

Thursday, 05 September 2013 05:00 administrator
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The Hindu               05.09.2013

New Mayor too wants a smooth ride

Vendors of K.R. Market find a unique way to draw the attention of the newly elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor to their problems. They strung together vegetables to make a huge garland that they presented to Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana. Onions, garlic, corn cobs, carrots, butternut squash, capsicum and even chillies were used to make the garland. They only wanted the Mayor to improve the city’s oldest market.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Vendors of K.R. Market find a unique way to draw the attention of the newly elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor to their problems. They strung together vegetables to make a huge garland that they presented to Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana. Onions, garlic, corn cobs, carrots, butternut squash, capsicum and even chillies were used to make the garland. They only wanted the Mayor to improve the city’s oldest market.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangaloreans might be relieved to hear that the city’s new First Citizen shares their concern about the poor state of the roads. B.S. Sathyanarayana, who was elected Mayor unopposed here on Wednesday, said filling potholes and ensuring a smooth ride would be his priority.

“I ride my two-wheeler around my ward. I know the travails of motorists, especially two-wheeler riders, given the numerous potholes that have emerged on our roads. I will continue to commute on my two-wheeler whenever possible,” he told presspersons.

The Basavanagudi councillor also promised to focus on rejuvenation and development of lakes, improvement of the drain network to prevent flooding and working towards solving the garbage problem in the city.

He said impetus would be given to revenue mobilisation. The BBMP would soon implement a new advertisement policy. That, along with Akrama Sakrama, would bring in enough revenue to fill the BBMP’s almost empty coffers.

Mr. Sathyanarayana said the government had already approved the 2013–14 budget presented by the former Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy. However, there were some areas, such as electrical maintenance, that had been left out in that budget. “We will explore the possibility of presenting a supplementary budget. This will be done only after the formation of the standing committees,” he said.

Asked how he would tackle the problem of “non-cooperative officials”, the Mayor said, “I have been in public life for more than two decades. I know how to extract work from officials. I will crack the whip, if necessary. I will direct the officials to submit a daily report on the works taken up.”

Surprise inspections

He said he would conduct surprise inspections, which would keep officials on their toes. Every Monday would be dedicated to inspection of the various markets in the city. Grievance redressal meets would be conducted at the zonal level and later at the Assembly constituency level.

‘Books, not garlands’

Mr. Sathyanarayana appealed to citizens not to garland him or present him bouquets. “If the citizens want to give me anything, let them give me books. I will donate these books to the city’s libraries.”

Later, the new Mayor, accompanied by his deputy, garlanded the statues of Kempe Gowda and Mahatma Gandhi outside the BBMP head office and on M.G. Road respectively.