Bengaluru Mayor stays up all night, keeps officials on their toes

Bengaluru: Mayor N. Shantakumari, who had pledged to work for the city foregoing her sleep, came close to living up to her words on Thursday night.

Not only did she monitor calls at the control room till 1 am, she went on city rounds till 3 am. On Friday morning, she called for an emergency meeting with BBMP commissioner and all zonal officials. Angry with the lackadaisical attitude of the officials even during emergency, she said, “I am getting an earful from citizens due to irresponsible BBMP officials. What better work do you all have other than attending to people’s problems? Why were you not present at the control room last night?”   

Advising the officials to respond to citizens’ calls, irrespective of their zones, she warned them not to pass the buck. She instructed them to increase the emergency teams to work along with forest department officials.

At Anand Rao Circle, nearly 50 people were rescued from a stranded bus. The in-charge executive engineer (Gandhinagar sub-division) Hemanth Kumar was not present at the spot. Enraged with this, she directed the commissioner to repatriate Mr Kumar.

Later in the day, during a visit to rain-hit areas, district-in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy along with the Mayor ordered the suspension of assistant executive engineer Raghavendra. It was said that Kino Theatre was flooded due to a faulty pump.