20,000 citizens troop into Karnataka's Vidhana Soudha to seek redress

Bengaluru: Fifty uniform-clad students from Agadi village in Hubballi travelled more than 400 km just to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the Vidhana Soudha on Thursday. Their ask: A high school. 

A differently-abled youth with a master’s degree in Carnatic music came seeking a job. Then, there were several women who didn’t receive Gruha Lakshmi money for two months. A father wanted financial help for his differently-abled daughter. Another man came requesting intervention in a land dispute.

More than 20,000 citizens thronged the Vidhana Soudha with their grievances during Siddaramaiah’s Janaspandana, in a clear sign of administrative inertia that forced them to bring their problems to the government’s highest executive functionary. 

“If disposal of applications happens at the lower level, people will not come to Bengaluru,” Siddaramaiah said. “Administration must not be inactive.”

Siddaramaiah provided resolutions to some problems by immediately sanctioning funds from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund — Rs 50,000 to buy hearing aid for an eight-year-old Tumakuru girl, Rs 4 lakh for bone marrow treatment of a Vijayapura man, Rs 4 lakh for kidney transplantation of a person from Ramanagara, Rs 10 lakh for a girl to study medicine in Kazakhstan and so on. 

The platter of grievances was varied. A differently-abled unemployed woman from Srirangapatna sought mercy killing, having lost her husband to Covid three years ago.

Shivashankar from Yelahanka came to Siddaramaiah after he was slapped with a Rs 18,000 bill by the BWSSB although his house is yet to get Cauvery supply.

Sushma, a government school teacher from Chikkaballapur, asked Siddaramaiah for a transfer to Shidlaghatta, where her mother was ailing from cancer. Yogendra Prasad from Nanjangud petitioned the CM to get an artificial tooth set fixed at KR Hospital in Mysuru free of cost.

While Siddaramaiah tried his best to reach out to as many citizens as possible, some were disappointed as their grievances were not heard properly. “We came all the way from Kalaburagi but the chief minister did not have time to listen to us. He just took our application and went away. This is the second time we are approaching him seeking a job for our granddaughter who is an M.Com graduate,” said a 92-year-old woman.

“I came to Bengaluru to meet the CM as the officers at the local level are demanding bribe to clear my retirement benefits. It has been 12 years since I retired from the agriculture department. But, at Janaspandana, they directed me again to officers at the district level, which may complicate things even more for me,” a pensioner from Hunsur said.

At some point, frustrated citizens started shouting slogans against Siddaramaiah. They only stopped after the police and officials intervened.