BBMP

Dear Friends,We are often remembered by some people. In fact, we are called ‘the real labourers’. Sometimes you invite us to the podiums, praise and even felicitate us. Time and again we have heard people say ‘pourakarmikas are the true doctors of this city, they keep the city clean and prevent diseases, that there should be a salary raise for pourakarmikas. That would be the just thing to do’. We don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the repeated statements. We are appealing to you through this letter, as sympathetic and conscious citizens, for your help.Hence, we have a…

RWAs run by elected volunteers are subject to full fledged auditing to the last paisa. They are answerable to the house owners for every single expenditure incurred for the year. But BBMP that has budget outlays of hundreds of crores of rupees has done away with auditing for more than four decades now. Worse, BBMP has been reeling under fund crisis and scams. BBMP Councillors protest during the 2011 budget approval. File Pic: Navya P K Since the major report of February 2012, Indicted by CAG, strangled by state, Bengaluru Limps on, Citizen Matters did an exclusive inquiry into who…

Along the road in front of my apartment is a tree that has sprouted lovely, delicate pink blooms. Big deal, you say? Lots of trees around town are festooned with these pink flowers now - but this one is special. Fifteen years ago, this tree did not exist. When the BMP (as it was then) put in a road divider, it left a narrow strip of earth, less than half a metre wide, inside the divider, and planted some bougainvillea and assorted saplings within the strip, protected by metal fencing. The saplings have grown, and this small tree is blooming,…

BBMP has started property tax payment collection for 2012-13. Application forms for tax payment are available at all offices for a fee of Rs 5. Garbage cess should be calculated and paid along with property tax.TAX RATES & REBATESNo revision in rates. No change in self-declared tax and building depreciation.Pay by 30th May 2012. After that, additional interest of 2% for every month of delay.Get a rebate of 5% by paying the full amount by 30th April. WHERE TO PAYAll BBMP offices and Bangalore One centers on all working days. Payment hours are from 9 am to 12.30 pm, and…

Russell Market traders are operating devoid of electricity. Pic: Abhishek Angad. A traders' initiative to rebuild Bengaluru's gutted-Russell Market after the February 25th fire mishap has led to a standoff between them and BBMP. BBMP has sent an eviction notice to Russell Market traders citing dilapidated conditions.Though the fire weakened the market structure initially, renovation seems to have restored strength. To rebuild the structure, traders employed a third party, KK Infrastructure, a firm which also worked with Bangalore Airport. All the affected traders contributed funds along with money received from the government. Traders have initiated renovation ongoing at Rusell Market,…

Chairman of BBMP Accounts Committee, A L Shivakumar, has pointed out discrepancies in the Accounts department in a press release dated March 26th. The Accounts Committee held an inspection in the Accounts office on 26th. They found that many letters and documents had been lying pending in the office's Receiving Section for 6-7 months; some had been pending for over a year.More serious matters were found. A letter from the Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department termed ‘very urgent’ has been lying pending for more than three months. In cases where employees had paid off loan amounts, installments were still…

Here are details on property tax payment for 2012-13, as per BBMP's press release: • Financial year for 2012-13 begins on April 1st.• As there has been no revision in taxes, tax can be paid as per last year. There is no change in self-declared tax and building depreciation.• Property tax can be paid at all BBMP offices and Bangalore One centers on all working days. Payment hours are from 9 am to 12.30 pm, and from 3 pm to 7 pm.• If the entire year's property tax is paid by 30th April, you can get a rebate of 5%.…

CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has unearthed yet another BBMP scam. This time it is about the excess payment of over Rs 90 lakhs paid to two contractors for drain de-silting works in 2009. Despite spending 1.65 crore rupees on these two rajakaluves, it is not clear how much work was actually done, as BBMP officials had manipulated the work records. This has come out in the 2008-10 audit of BBMP by CAG. Rajakaluve works in another area. File Pic: Anisha Nair The irregularities were on de-silting and re-sectioning two rajakaluves (major Storm Water Drains or SWDs). One…

Residents of KEB Layout in BTM 1st stage have been petitioning BBMP about a public park that was demolished to benefit a private party. Citizen Matters had reported the issue in October 22 issue. BBMP demolished the play area in KEB layout park to build a road through it, in 2009. Pic: Navya P K BBMP had built the road through the only park here to facilitate traffic to a Sai Baba temple nearby, violating laws that mandate park protection. This also led to severe congestion by vehicles parking in inner roads of the layout.But BBMP is not swayed, even…

The residents of National Games Village (NGV) see no hopes of respite from the problems of the Storm Water Drain (SWD) beside their colony.The construction of a wall for the SWD system in NGV, which started around a year back, is yet to complete. Workers working on the wall of SWD in NGV. Pic: Anisha Nair Ravinder Sharma, a resident of NGV says, "We face the problem of foul smell and garbage getting collected there on a daily basis since years," the once closed drains were also opened last year due to water clogging. He further added, "... they have…