brijesh kumar

Lakes in Bengaluru invoke the same awe as does the Ganga at Varanasi or the Yamuna in Delhi. Indeed lakes are very special to the city of Bangalore. Without any river passing by, lakes were the natural source of water for the plateau, now called Bangalore. Lakes have been the lifeline of the city and its surroundings till recently. Credible accounts exist as to how the Sankey Tank served as a source of drinking water till quite recently. The dependence on the lakes started easing in the sixties, thanks to bountiful supply from the Cauvery.   Bangalore has grown exponentially…

BBMP Council and BBMP’s Forest Cell are at loggerheads once again. Apparent reason: Some trees were cut in Jayanagar 3rd and 4th blocks recently - allegedly to favour advertisers by improving the visibility of hoardings. And the Councillors think that Forest Cell chief is responsible for this. According to a report from The Hindu, the allegations were made by ruling party leader N Nagaraju, in the council meeting on September 29, 2013. BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayan had said show-cause notice would be served to the officials concerned. However, Brijesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of the Forest Cell…

It was August 25th, 2013. The last council meeting under the mayorship of Venkateshmurthy was underway. The media representatives coming out from the council meeting were distributed a press kit. The press release with no sign of any authorities highlighted the continued payment by BBMP to works tendered by its Forest Cell, which can never be scrutinised and ascertained if they were really done in the way they should be. The documents indicated that BBMP Forest Cell continues to make payments against 2923 job codes assigned four years ago. In addition to this, Forest Cell Chief Conservator Brijesh Kumar is…

Twenty days after BBMP issued his transfer, Brijesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) was able to get a stay on it. The state government's Urban Development Department (UDD) issued the stay, saying that BBMP could not make the decision on its own.In the order, written in Kannada, UDD clearly says that BBMP's decision was unilateral, and that no permission was asked from UDD. It was UDD that had passed the initial orders to create the new CCF position in BBMP, and to appoint IFS officer Kumar to it.BBMP had issued Kumar's transfer order on October 11th, and the officer…

BBMP has booted out a senior forest officer, on the ground that he was too expensive - the expense being an additional Rs 5 lakh per year. Brijesh Kumar, IFS, was deputed by state government to BBMP, to take care of lakes, horticulture and forests, since these resources are in a sorry state. Government had created the post of CCF (Chief Conservator of Forests) in BBMP, and appointed Kumar on May 17th.On October 17th, just as he completed five months, Kumar was relieved of his charge. BBMP's Standing Committee on Establishment and Administrative Reforms had made this decision in August.…