Citizens to MLA: Ensure coordination between civic agencies

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru:

Areas under the Shivajinagar Assembly Constituency face a wide range of civic issues. Citizens of the seven wards under the constituency interacted with the MLA Rizwan Arshad on Saturday and sought solutions to these issues.

Officials from the BBMP and other agencies including BWSSB, BESCOM, Bengaluru Smart City, BMTC and the Police participated in the event organised by English daily. Most of the issues stemmed from the lack of coordination among the different agencies, as pointed out by the citizens.

A resident of Edward Road questioned why she had to route all her grievances through the MLA’s office for them to be addressed in time. “Only a couple of officials are responsive, the others do not care about our concerns,” she said.

Residents of Kumara Park complained of waterlogging and asked the MLA to get a stormwater drain built in the area. A statutory hurdle, in the form of a prohibition on deep cutting near railway lines, had been preventing the authorities from building a drain. However, the MLA asked the engineers to find a way out of the problem in spite of the constraints.

BMTC

A request was made for Metro Feeder services from the Kumara Park area to the nearest metro station (Mantri Square- Sampige Road). The MLA said that a feeder route connecting Vasanthnagar to the Cubbon Park metro station would be introduced very soon.

Students of RBANM College reportedly found it difficult to reach college on time as the BMTC had reduced the buses on routes connecting the college to several areas of the city. Arshad sought two reports from the BMTC officials regarding services in the Shivajinagar Assembly Constituency – one on the services before the pandemic struck and the other on the current bus routes and frequency. Issues such as buses not stopping at the designated stops could be resolved through sensitization programmes for drivers, he said.

Bescom

Complaints of dysfunctional streetlights were raised by several residents. Some even pointed out that many streetlights, especially in Bharathi Nagar, had to be switched on and off manually. The local Bescom official had not responded to numerous complaints by a resident and was made to answer him at the event.

BWSSB

The MLA said the task of laying new pipes for water supply and sewerage was a crucial one and was almost complete. “Many areas had pipelines that were decades old and had to be replaced completely,” he said. Though most citizens at the event were satisfied with the water and drainage systems in the constituency, they urged the officials to get the debris cleared after the work is complete. “The debris from dug-up roads is cleared in time only if it is on the main road. The internal lanes are left unattended once the pipes are laid,” a resident of Vasanthnagar said.

Parks

Residents from across the constituency said that the maintenance and security must be increased in view of the extension in park timings. A resident of Kumara Park in Vasanth Nagar ward said that the play equipment in a park in the area was removed before starting redevelopment work. The equipment was not replaced even after the park redevelopment was completed, he said.