Peaople's problems

Vanishing footpaths

Pavements all over the City are dug up by the BBMP or used by the builders to stock their material (which is illegal and to which the Palike turns a blind eye) with utter disregard to pedestrian safety. Should not the BBMP barricade a part of the road for the pedestrians till the work is over? Should an accident occur at these places involving a pedestrian, the BBMP or the builder be held equally responsible.

R D Shenoy, A501, Sterling Terraces, BSK III Stage

Pothole-filled roads

One single bout of rain and the Sree Ananth Nagar 1st Main Road is shabby with wheel-deep potholes. Monsoon is not far off and the situation continues to remain so from last monsoon. Months passed after the residents voted for the new corporator and the promises have still not taken even a minor step. Assurances of better drainage, good roads and scheduled power supply were given and said that these will be addressed. But the issues remain as they were. The situation is not far when some electricity poles fall on huge potholes filled with rainwater and thousands of pedestrians have to compulsorily traverse the stretch. Expect the BBMP officials, corporator of the area to wide open their eyes and act, before something disastrous and fateful happens.

Yogasmitha, Sree Anantha Nagar

Overflowing drainage in Malleswaram

We, the residents of 8th Cross Extension, 10th Main Malleshpalaya would like to draw your urgent attention to the unhygeinic atmosphere around our residences caused by the open-ended sewage pipes and incomplete open drain lines. The locality is situated perpendicular to 8th, 9th and 10th Crosses of 10th Main, Marutinagar and referred to as extension of the 8th Cross. There are over 45 families residing in this area and over 50 houses are coming up (under construction).

Rainwater accumulates in the locality during rainy season. Though drainage runs on either side of the road, there is no further connectivity.

Sewage pipes have been laid unscientifically without any gradient to drain off water from the area. They neither have any disposal connectivity. After several representations, a small bleed-off connection was provided from the sewage line chamber situated at the 8th Cross dead end (more than three feet above from the pipeline). During heavy rain, sewage gushes through toilet closets into houses (ground floor) thus pushing residents literally out, in search of shelter.

Clearing/cleaning becomes a herculean task here, and gives us sleepless nights. Please provide proper disposal connectivity to sewage line and initiate necessary action to re-do the sewage piping in the affected area with a proper slope for a smooth drain of the sewage.

Residents of affected area

Taxpayers’ details not updated online

Another year of property tax collection has started. BBMP has given wide publicity in the print media for public awareness. It is noteworthy that umpteen number of collection centres have been opened to facilitate payment without hassles. But tech-savvy taxpayers in some localities are deprived of paying the tax online. For instance, the details of tax paid in the previous years as regards ward no 142 (old 49) Sunkenahalli have not been updated. I have brought this lapse to the notice of our area corporator also, but to no avail. I tried to contact the authorities over phone only to get a long list of phone numbers. Out of 8 or 10 calls, very few responded with evasive answers. I have also sent an e-mail to the BBMP Head Office. At the time of drafting this letter I got a reply that I have to contact the ward office where I paid the tax last year. Does the BBMP expect the taxpayer to remind the staff to do their duty? Why are they maintaining so many ward offices and IT departments? It is high time that the authorities concerned realise their responsibilities and do their duty sincerely.

K N Subba Rao, 57, 2nd Cross, Gavipuram Extension

Private banks’ cheques not accepted

For payment of property tax for 2011-12, the BBMP tax collectors are not accepting cheques of private banks like Citi Bank, ICICI or HDFC.  The irony is that the BBMP online payment gateway can accept credit cards from any bank as issued by Master Card and Visa companies which are again private institutions. We really do not understand the motive causing this inconvenience for the citizens who have accounts with Citi, HDFC and ICICI banks. Have these banks not got licence to operate in this country? How can the BBMP explain this?

Raghavendra Prasad

Online facility not effective

The BBMP has a fine system for online payment which should help save time and effort for the public as well as the BBMP staff. However, the BBMP does not seem interested in helping the public in this respect. The tax paid data for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11 is not yet available online. This is forcing the taxpayers to go personally for the payment this year too. What good is the online facility when it cannot be used effectively? If the BBMP takes no effort to upload the data, is it taxpayers’ fault?

Also, the BBMP does not accept the current year’s tax if the previous years’ tax is not paid. That being the case, why does the online payment system makes it compulsory to have all the previous years’ data online? If the 2010-11 data is available online, is it not enough for paying for 2011-12? I request the BBMP to allow the current year tax to be paid online even though the earlier years’ data not being available online. They can accept scanned copies of previous years’ tax paid receipt and a declaration to the effect.

Siva Kumar, Rahat Bagh Main Road, CV Raman Nagar.

Responses

Grievance: The state of New BEL Road near Ramaiah Hospital is pathetic.
Residents of New BEL Road, Dollars Colony.

Response: The BWSSB took up work related to change underground drain pipes in this area. Work has been completed, pits have been filled and road has been levelled. The BBMP will have to take up the work of relaying and asphalting the road.

Srikanthmurthy, EE
(Waste water management)

Grievance: My house is located at No 3c-1007, 3rd Cross (between 10th Main and 10th ‘A’ Main) HRBR 1st Block, Kalyannagar. We have not been receiving water supply through pipes since August 2010 (for 8 months)

N Subramanya Raju

Response: The engineer concerned is aware of the problem. There are three-four houses on this lane located at an elevated ground level where piped water does not have much pressure. So these houses are being supplied with tanker water.  The BWSSB will rectify the water pipe levels in this area

Malla Reddy, AEE (East -1)

Grievance: Some houses on 12th Cross, Dollars Colony Bangalore, including ours (No 360), are not getting any water for the last three to four months.

Arun Ramanujapuram, 360,
12th Cross, Dollars Colony, RMV II Stage.

Response: Silt was found
inside the water pipeline in this area which has been removed. Water supply has resumed to normal.

Rajashekarappa ( North-3)