Bengaluru: Residents pour out their woes at Janaspandana

Bengaluru: “My 90-year-old mother is ailing and she is unable to recover due to the unhygienic conditions around our house caused by garbage. When I tried to seek help from the BBMP, the officials abused me and was shown the door,” broke down a senior citizen from Pattabhimrama Nagar at the Janaspandana on Thursday.

Residents from various parts of South Bengaluru like Hosakerihalli, J.P Nagar, V.V Puram, Pattabhimrama Nagar, Basavanagudi and K.R Market participated at the public grievance meet held in Jayanagar. BBMP administrator T.M. Vijay Bhaskar and Commissioner G. Kumar Naik heard complaints related to waste management, bad roads, potholes, blocked drains and other issues.

Residents from Basavanagudi and surrounding areas, who attended the meet, complained that although hundreds of Bengalureans visited M.N. Krishna Rao Park everyday and it was one of the main attractions in the area, it lacked maintenance.  

A resident, said, “The park remains open even after 8 pm and turns into an ‘adda’ for drug peddlers, eve-teasers and gangsters. A portion of the park fencing has been demolished and is not repaired till date. As a result, kids who play near the fencing have been injured on many occasions. The park spreads over acres but has only one security guard who is drunk while on duty. He allows people inside the park at graveyard hours for '50, making it a place for all sorts of anti-social activities.”

He also added that the park had become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and there were fears of dengue break out among walkers. Many residents from different areas complained that BBMP staff misbehaved with citizens when they sought help.

“The officials abuse us when we go to BBMP offices to complain about any incomplete work,” a resident said. People also threw light on the conditions of K.R Market which lacked bus shelter and was dirty but did not attract the attention of BBMP officials.

Public toilets

BBMP administrator T. M. Vijay Bhaskar has said people can utilize Nirmala Souchalaya free of cost. At the public grievance meeting at South zone he said that the public toilets should be made accessible to all for free. Hitherto, they were charged Re. 1 and often there used to be arguments regarding loose change. This often motivated the public to relieve themselves in the open, often outside the public toilets.

The BBMP has earmarked Rs 50 crore for new toilets and repair the existing ones. People can approach zonal engineers if any toilets required repair. The new tender gives the contractors to display advertisements, but not charge the users, he said.