Citizens shift meeting on road widening issues to nearby church after BWSSB pleads ignorance of its office being the venue
Citizens shift meeting on road widening issues to nearby church after BWSSB pleads ignorance of its office being the venueThe BBMP's first reach out effort aimed at tackling the growing discontent about its road widening schemes would have ended in disaster yesterday but for some timely 'divine intervention'.
By God's Grace: The meeting, which involved more than 100 people,
was called by the BBMP to discuss issues surrounding the widening of
Banaswadi Main Road. Pic/Sanjay MDThe meeting, which involved more than 100 people, was called by the BBMP to discuss issues surrounding the widening of Banaswadi Main Road. It had decided that the venue would be the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) office in Cox Town.
However, when area residents got there, officials from the BWSSB pleaded ignorance about any meeting scheduled to take place there. Disappointed citizens then decided to take matters in their own hands and moved the meeting to a church across the road.u00a0
u00a0"When we arrived at about 11 am, the BWSSB did not know that a meeting was supposed to take place," he said. "They said they were not informed, so we had to move. When the BBMP officials arrived about fifteen minutes later, we had already shifted the meeting venue."
When MiD DAY spoke to BWSSB officials, they confirmed that they hadn't received any communication regarding a meeting on their premises.
R Rajendran, corporator, Maruthi Seva Nagar, however, said that the misunderstanding took place due to the unexpected rains.
"We were meant to discuss things at the BWSSB office premises, but suddenly the rains came and so we had to move the meeting to the church," he said.
Assurances
The misunderstanding did not, however, completely dampen the first-of-its-kind event with the BBMP taking a positive approach to sorting out the disputes with residents about the proposed widening.
N S Ramesh, the secretary of the Residents' Welfare Association of Bangalore East, said that Rajendran had promised that no work would take place without the two sides reaching an amicable solution.
"The meeting was special as it was the first time that officials in charge have come to the residents, rather than the other way around.
The corporator has assured us that no work will be done without the citizens' approval," he said. "We are with them, but they must do a good job to convince the residents."
| Pending issues |
| >>However, the process still has many pressing matters to solve with both sides cautious about conceding too much ground in what is a situation being repeated across the city currently.
>>Rajesh, executive engineer, BBMP, said that citizens are not cooperating on certain key issues.
>>"They are not interested in Transfer Development Rights (TDRs), so we will be giving them 50 per cent more money per square foot," he said.
>>N S Ramesh said that none of the citizens want the TDRs and that they were looking for some modifications and better traffic management to avoid road widening and the wiping out of almost half of the businesses in that line. >>"We will have to sacrifice something," he said, "and we are looking for the BBMP to meet us
halfway." |
