BJP members question Palike over action on Mathai reports

BJP corporators on Thursday wanted to know what action the Palike had taken on the reports by assistant commissioner (advertisements) K Mathai.

At the Council meeting, opposition leader and Kacharakanahalli councillor Padmanabha Reddy said, “There are four reports by Mathai. While the first states that BBMP has suffered losses of Rs 2,000 crore, the third report says that Palike is yet to collect Rs 6,500 crore of advertisement revenue pending for the last six years.” He said Mathai should be given powers and the necessary staff to recover the amount.

“How were the reports prepared and what action has Mayor taken based on the findings,” asked Basavanagudi councillor B S Satyanarayana.

Reddy said that a progress report must be submitted every month in the Council about action taken by officials from the advertisement section.BBMP commissioner Kumar Naik said, BBMP had collected Rs 20 crore to Rs 30 crore in the last three to four years from advertisements and was the highest collection till date.

“There is scope to increase revenue from advertisements,” he said.
N Shanthakumari said that when she was the Mayor, she used to undertake drives, but none of the officials accompanied her, including Mathai.

Bommanahalli MLA M Satish Reddy lashed out at the BBMP officials for allowing excess waste to be dumped at the KCDC landfill in his constituency.

He said, “The landfill is supposed to receive only 100 tonnes of wet waste everyday. However, for the past many months, more than 300 tonnes of waste is entering the landfill. We will hold a protest from October 31, if no action is taken.”

BBMP ruling party leader R S Satyanarayana appealed to the Mayor to enforce plastic ban effectively and convene a meeting with hotels, marriage hall owners, malls and other stakeholders.

“Use of plastics is one of the leading causes for garbage crisis. The problem will be solved by 30 per cent if plastic ban is enforced. Earlier, farmers used to buy waste from the City for their lands. But now, no one is coming forward due to plastic menace.”

The Mayor instructed Palike officials not to complain against citizens, unnecessarily. This comes in the wake of a case filed against a citizen named Vijay Kumar by BBMP, while executing TenderSURE project on Cunningham Road.

“We are getting lakhs of rupees as tax from buildings on Cunningham Road. However, injustice has been meted out to property owners having parking facility, by raising the footpath. How will the property owners reach the parking area if this is done. BBMP engineers should create the facility now,” he said.