From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jun 13: Potholes in Bengaluru will be a thing of the past if the promises by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) officials to the Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, who is also in charge of Home Department and Bengaluru Development portfolios, is implemented.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, the Deputy Chief Minister said BBMP officials have assured him that all the potholes in the city will be filled up within a week.
Dr Parameshwara, who is also heading the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), warmly complimented B Sowmya Reddy, the Congress candidate from Jayanagar assembly constituency in the city, on her victory. He thanked the voters of Jayanagar for reposing faith in the Congress party and expressed his gratitude to the party workers for wresting the seat from BJP as it was held by B N Vijayakumar, whose recent death before polling led to the postponement of the election.
While Sowmya Reddy, daughter of former Congress minister B Ramalinga Reddy, won by a margin of 2,889 votes, the party candidate Chandrashekar Patil emerged victorious from the North East Graduates Constituency to the Karnataka Legislative Council.
Dr Parameshwara, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the investigation into the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh was in progress and the police have nabbed some suspects. "I do not wish to divulge more details until the investigation is complete," he said promising to reveal all details when the investigation is over.
The Deputy Chief Minister said he has directed the BBMP officials to draw up plans for preventing flooding in the low lying areas of the city due to heavy rains, especially by drawing up contingency plans based on the experience during the last three years.
The Chief Engineers and other officials of the BBMP have been asked to ensure that roads and low lying areas in the city were not flood by clearing the storm water drains and clearing the encroachments of lakes and tanks preventing the free flow of rain water.
Dr Parameshwara said he had recently visited the Bellandur and Kaggadasanapura lakes and asked the officials to solve the problems in respect of the two lakes in three months.
Asked about the garbage disposal problem in the city, the Deputy Chief Minister said the recent standoff between the contractors and BBMP authorities over the non-payment of dues, which resulted in non-clearance of the garbage in different parts of the city, has been resolved and the contractors have been assured that all their payments will be cleared soon.
"I don’t understand why there should be any problems or withholding of payments, when specific budgetary allocations have been made," he said pointing out that the officials have been directed to make timely payments and prevent harassments.
On the proposal of the French Ambassador to provide assistance and technical support for generating power from garbage besides ensuring proper disposal, he said the proposal will be looked into.
He also promised to check the misuse of permissions allotted for construction of houses in residential areas by making use of residential buildings for commercial purposes. These kind of activities causes hardships and inconveniences to the people in residential areas and also leads to huge revenue losses to the BBMP. "We need to check this misuse and levy heavy penalties besides asking the buildings used for commercial purposes to pay appropriate taxes," he said.