Palike runs a website but does not update it

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) does have an official website but it is as good as not having one. Sumithra A, a young professional, discovered this when she dialled the number of Palike’s Joint Commissioner (West Zone) to make a civic complaint last Tuesday.

The woman found the phone number in the telephone directory published on bbmp.gov.in. The man who returned her call did work with the BBMP but not anymore.
“He is a former joint commissioner and he told me that he left the job four months ago. I then had to call the control room to get the number of the incumbent,” Sumithra said.

Jude Rajesh Ferrao, a resident of Hennur, pointed out that not just contact details, even email IDs and ongoing projects mentioned on the website had not been updated. “A few months ago, I tried to send an email to the Chief Health Officer (CHO) of my locality but it bounced. The Palike staff promised to update the e-mail details but have not done so to this day,” Ferrao said. “The pedestrian subway at KR Market was completed in March 2013, but the BBMP website shows it is still under construction.”

According to Palike sources, the website was launched in 2008 in order to keep the citizens informed about its activities and help them reach out to the officers concerned.
The BBMP’s administration department, meanwhile, maintained that official apathy might be to blame for not updating the contact details.

Officers of ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories are given new SIM cards. When they leave, it is their duty to return them to the IT department so that new officers can use them, but some officers have delayed returning the SIM cards, hence the confusion.

Mayor B S Satyanarayana promised to Deccan Herald that he would look into the issue at the earliest and take action accordingly.