BBMP's online redress forum 'closing' unattended civic plaints

Palike didn't fix problems but declared them resolved, say residents

Citizens posting civic grievances on ‘Sahaaya,’ the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) redress portal, are facing an unusual phenomenon for the last two days. While their problems remain unattended, the cases are being closed and their status declared ‘resolved’.

Complaints related to potholes are especially being closed in a hurry by the BBMP, complainants said. They suspected that Thursday’s accident on the Kadubeesanahalli flyover that killed a woman techie had jolted the Palike into this “quick action” mode. The techie died after her husband rode his motorcycle into a pothole.

Kartikeya Khanna, an IT professional, said he had posted a complaint on Sahaaya in February this year about a big pothole outside at IGATE office in Whitefield. While no action was taken all these months, he received a message on his registered mobile number on September 19 morning, informing that the problem has been solved.

“When I visited the spot, the pothole was still there. I reopened the complaint but the Palike closed it again. This cat and mouse game of opening and reopening the complaint has happened at least 15 times till date. The Palike also masked my comments on the forum when I raised this issue,” Khanna said.

Clement Jayakumar from Doddanekkundi said he had complained about garbage burning and poor maintenance of a storm water drain on Sahaaya about eight weeks ago. “I received a message from the Palike on September 19 that all the issues have been sorted out. When I contacted the Palike engineers concerned, I was in for a shock. They said the locality does not fall under their jurisdiction,” he added.

The Palike seems to be using this technique for other civic issues, too. A resident of BTM Layout said he had posted a complaint about illegal posters and hoardings in his locality. All these months, the Palike remained indifferent to the issue. “On September 19, out of the blue, I got a message that the posters have been cleared.

When I went to the spot, the posters were still intact.” The Sahaaya portal, which was launched in December 2014, has received more than one lakh complaints till date, according to BBMP officials. The BBMP’s Information Technology (IT) Department insisted there are no software glitches from their end.

Meanwhile, staff at the public grievance cell said they were not aware of the problem and asked citizens to contact at 080-22660000 to report complaints or closure of unattended complaints.

‘Can’t close like that’
The BBMP’s public grievance cell has about 30 people working round the clock. They can close the complaint only if the problem is fixed and the complainant is satisfied with the work, said Kumar Pushkar, the BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Finance). “I will look into the matter immediately.”