Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar reaffirmed that the civic body would cancel the trade licences of businesses and shops if they don’t give prominence to Kannada in their signboards.
“From December 1, the BBMP officials will go ahead and cancel the trade licences,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Of the 47,406 trade licence holders, only 8,195 had made changes to the signage. The civic officials had inspected 22,474 establishments, trades and shops, and had issued more than 15,000 notices to those who were yet to comply.
About the civic body’s attempts to cover more trades, Mr. Anil Kumar admitted that the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) had issued over six lakh commercial connections in the Bengaluru metropolitan area (most of which comes under the BBMP limits). “We have got the details of the commercial connections from Bescom,” he said and admitted that many trades in the city were operating without valid licences.
He said many commercial establishments had come up in residential zones. “As per the zoning regulations, we cannot issue trade licences to such establishments. This has meant that there is no regulation of trades that have come up in residential zones,” he said.
Mr. Anil Kumar said the BBMP had sought an amendment in the zoning regulations to include and allow some essential trades in residential zones, such as neighbourhood provision stores and pharmacies. “If amended, this will allow us to regulate trades in residential areas, apart from bringing in more revenue to the BBMP,” he said.
