Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) officials drew the ire of Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy when they failed to give concrete information about projects taken up in their jurisdiction. The Mayor was interacting with the zonal engineers via videoconference here on Monday.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor L. Srinivas began the session by stating that these videoconferences would be held regularly to ascertain the progress of various works taken up across the city.
While engineers from West, South, Dasarahalli, Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura and Rajarajeshwari Nagar zones participated, those from East and Yelahanka zones could not due to technical difficulties. The officials of the East Zone could not participate as the office is being shifted, while the videoconferencing equipment has not yet been installed at the Yelahanka Zonal office.
Mr. Venkatesh Murthy checked the progress and status of works in each ward. All that emerged was that little progress has been achieved, even as problems with basic amenities abound across the city.
When he sought information about the zero garbage programme, he received negative answers about its implementation. He enquired about the status of work to upgrade the Kittur Rani Chennamma playground in Jayanagar 3 Block. This project was proposed nearly two years ago and the upgraded playground was to be inaugurated in March 2012. The authorities said that a large part of the work has been completed. They would require another six months to complete it, they added.
The Mayor urged councillors to expedite work in their wards and directed the officials to submit reports and achieve targets. He was unhappy with the fact that the officials did not come prepared for the conference.
“This is a new experiment and we will continue to do this,” Mr. Venkatesh Murthy said. He added that next time there would be no technical glitches. He directed the officials to come prepared for the next meeting with information about various works taken up in their jurisdiction.
