No action yet on illegal flexes in B'luru. Why BBMP, why?

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

In a viral video, a woman was seen ripping a flex hoarding in front of the Vidhana Soudha, meant to wish BJP MLA CT Ravi on his 55th birthday—which has brought back the discussion on illegal flexes in the city. The flex was a blatant violation of the Karnataka High Court’s ban on illegal hoardings, banners, and flexes.

On Wednesday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said that the civic body’s employees have been removing flexes every day. However, no penal action has been taken against any of the violators. “The BBMP has been patient and had thought that people would understand,” he said.

It is said that those putting up the flex banners often say that it is their job only to erect the flexes, while the removal work is BBMP’s task. Meanwhile, residents of BTM Layout tweeted that they would be writing to the Karnataka Chief Justice about the civic body’s neglect in the implementation of the High Court’s decision. Residents of several other areas tagged pictures and videos of illegal flexes from their respective localities, but no action has been taken yet.

BBMP acknowledges shortfall

BBMP has acknowledged that it has failed to meet the expectations of the citizens. In parts of the city, flyers addressing BBMP officials with foul language were stuck up on pillars, photographs of which have gone viral on social media recently.

The BBMP Chief responded to this on Wednesday and said that the civic body’s functioning might not have met people’s expectations, which might have led them to react in such a way. He also said that the BBMP had been ailing due to a shortage of staff. The requirement for additional staff has arisen in wake of the increase in the number of wards from 198 to 243 following ward delimitation.

“We had sent a proposal for the recruitment of 400 officials in the past. Officials need to be deputed even for the previous 198 wards. We also need an additional 45 Assistant Engineers post delimitation,” he said.