I will improve garbage collection system in the City, says Mayor

Being a seasoned politician - three-time corporator from Sarakki - Nataraj has set himself a few short-term goals with a long-term perspective. Nataraj shared his views with Deccan Herald on some of the important issues that he has to tackle.

What is the biggest challenge before you after assuming the office?

There are a lot of non-functional officials in the BBMP. My main concern is to get these officials into the business. Most of them are on deputation from other departments. If they do not perform we will have to repatriate them to their departments.

Streamlining departments is essential for good governance of the City.

Are you satisfied with the functioning of the BBMP over the past three-and-half-years under the Administrator?

There are quite a few lacunas in the BBMP which have not been rectified under the administrator’s rule.

The laxity among the officials and unscientific approach towards infrastructure projects is evident enough to show that there is no work culture in the Corporation.

Under the Administrator, there have been quite a few instances of lack of co-ordination among the civic agencies in the City. What is your opinion?

A few individuals tried to centralise the entire power with regard to civic amenities. Today, the authorities in the AC rooms of the BBMP give a free hand to all agencies leading to problems. We now intend to decentralise the power and give authority to the Executive Engineers who work at the ward level.

What is your take on the newly-elected corporators?

The newly-elected corporators lack basic knowledge of how to conduct themselves in a public forum. There will be a workshop for them to sensitise about their responsibilities. For example, a few corporators are not aware of what a work order means.

Besides, they do not know what it means to sign an agreement with the contractors who will be undertaking a particular project in their ward.

Your comments on garbage problem in the City?

There definitely seems to be a mafia in garbage collection. Increase in number of tipper trucks and cut on manpower has meant that there is irregular clearance of garbage. I want to ensure that more men and women are employed to clear the garbage and reduce the dependency on these tipper trucks.

There has been a huge difference in the estimated collection of property tax in the yearly budget vis-a-vis the actual tax collected. How do you intend to address this issue?

The property tax collection has been drastically cut down due to lack of efficiency among the BBMP officials. The authorities have forgotten that there are 110 villages which come under their jurisdiction and that they also need to pay the taxes.

This apart, we will try and utilise the available technology including the GIS system to point out the properties that have evaded paying taxes.