Bengaluru: Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning K J George has emphasized the need to have more and more waste to energy plants to overcome the problem of garbage in the city.
Participating in Jana Spandana programme organized by the East Zone of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Minister George said that abandoned quarries were being converted into parks by planting more saplings after filling them with garbage. “The BBMP has already filled up one quarry and the process of developing it as a tree park will commence in 45 days,’’ the minister said.
The minister said the Tender Sure roads would have to be maintained by the contractors for a specified period and if they fail, notices would be served to such contractors. The Minister agreed with a citizen who pointed out that builders put construction materials haphazardly on the roads leading to bottleneck in traffic movement. The Minister also instructed the BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad to instruct engineers to keep a tight vigil and cancel work commencement certificate in case of violations.
When his attention was drawn to lack of public toilet facility in Banaswadi, he said the government’s view is every house should have a toilet. “Over 285 toilets would be constructed through private-public participation,” he said.
On a question related to extension of Metro Rail Service in some parts, he said it was not possible to link the service to all places. “The government is looking into the possibilities of linking services wherever possible,’’ he said.
When a lady doctor brought to the notice of the minister about the use of narcotic substances by schoolchildren, the minister expressed concern and directed the BBMP Commissioner to act immediately on a hotel premises used by the children.
When many people, among those present, insisted on taking up the steel bridge flyover between Basaveswara Circle to Hebbal to ease traffic congestion, the minister said that he could not discuss it since the issue was before the National Green Tribunal. “It is not a VIP flyover and there was no prestige involved in it. The project was first mooted in 2010. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced it in the budget in 2014. It is expected to have a length of 13 km including up ramps and down ramps at various points and it was a part of the proposed 120 km length east-west corridor across the city,’’ he said.
The minister observed that more such Janaspandana Programmes should be organised by involving the legislators and corporators so that many issues could be sorted out at the ground level. He also suggested to the BBMP Commissioner to speedup creation of ward committees at the earliest.
Rajya Sabha member Prof Rajeev Gowda, Mayor G Padmavathi, Deputy Mayor Anand, Congress Party leader in BBMP R S Satyanarayana, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) Mahendra Jain, Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner Sri Rajkumar Khatri and others were present.
