December 1 will be a historic day in the history of HSR Layout as the first ward committee meeting was conducted today for both Ward 174 (HSR) and Ward 190 at the BBMP office on 9th Main Road in Sector 6, as the officials for both wards are largely the same, barring a few exceptions. This is also historic because now the monthly meetings are mandated by the Karnataka High Court and ordered by the BBMP Commissioner.
It does not end there. Every first Saturday, after the meeting is conducted, the minutes of the meeting are recorded by the Assistant Revenue Officer and the citizen complaints are forwarded to the relevant government departments for action. At the next meeting, a progress report ought to be submitted by these agencies, so that it can be shared to the general public.
Today’s meeting began with Ward 190 at around 1030am followed by HSR Ward 174 that ended at 2pm. The top highlights were the issue of potholes, streetlights, stray dogs and park maintenance. Barring one ward committee member, the remaining 11 were present at today’s historic session. Many residents of HSR also joined in with their list of complaints that were duly recorded by the civic officials.
For both the wards, Assistant Revenue Officer Lakshmi is designated to send the report of the proceedings to the BBMP headquarters, which will in turn forward it to the Karnataka High Court.
“We divided the responsibilities amongst us and noted down the complaints,” said HSR health inspector Vinodh GM. “If it’s an emergency issue, we get the address of the person and try to resolve the issue immediately.”
Although there were issues regarding BWSSB, BESCOM, traffic and crime, only BBMP officials were present. However, the BBMP officials will forward the complaints from the residents to the relevant departments for immediate redressal. The letters to other departments will be sent out on Monday.
Regarding the shabby composition of the ward committee for which we have done a separate story, BNR Reddy, the chairman of the Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Association, told Residents Watch: “We have spoken to the MLA about this and he has assured us that he will reconstitute the committee to our satisfaction.”