RW Monthly Wrap: Voter IDs, encroachments, garbage & more

MAD MAN OF HSR

Sector 4 resident Chandrashekar had a scary tale of his neighbour to share recently.

“A stranger, looking to be mentally retarded, troubled my neighbour for two days,” he said.

“The unidentified man would get inside his building and bang on the door or ring the bell several times asking for his wife and his clothes. Even after shouting at him and telling him that he is in the wrong house, the stranger would wait for an hour or two outside and repeat the same thing again. He did this the whole day.

“My neighbour had to call the police and they took him to the station and dropped him in a different locality after a warning. But he came back the next day and repeated it. This time around, he called me and I called the cops who took him to the station.”

GARBAGE SET ON FIRE

A resident noticed garbage in front of Freedom International School in Sector 4 being set on fire. BBMP was cleaning the area to use it as a secondary collection point, but the residents want to know if the culprit was the civic agency itself. Or the garbage contractors? “It’s clearly a planned one as the fire is set only where the garbage is piled up,” said one resident. If the fence begins to eat the crop, who can protect it? And in this case, the civic agency is allegedly violating its own rule. And this is not a case in isolation. With city’s rising pollution levels, it’s time the government took action on polluters.

YOUR VOTER ID DETAILS ARE ONLINE

The Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) has built a voter-friendly site based on a series of inputs from the residents. Residents Watch took it for a test drive and found it really helpful because of its intuitive navigation interface. You can check out your voter ID details here: http://bpac.in/voter-search/. Similarly, B.PAC has a mobile app called Spotter where you can report about things that the other apps don’t allow, like illegal hoardings, footpath encroachments, tree cuttings and animal control. There are only a few residents who have reported from Bommanahalli ward, perhaps due to lack of knowledge. So go ahead and try out this app and let us know if it works. Email us (residentswatchmag@gmail.com) the details with screenshots and pictures of before and after.

RESIDENTS OPPOSE LIQUOR STORE

Honeypot, a new liquor shop that has opened its doors on 18th C Main in Sector 3 is irking residents like Gopal Maiya. “Wonder how the excise department flouted the rule of not permitting a liquor store within 100 metres of schools, temples and houses. It’s a purely residential area, but now it has become a haven for drunks on weekends. One such boozer had made my building’s setback area as a rendezvous point for smoking, boozing and snacking. I had to install a gate to stop it.” Will the BBMP shutter the liquor store and bring some peace to the neighbourhood, please? Similarly, Madhuloka, another liquor store has come up on 17th Cross in Sector 4. It’s a violation as it’s close to temples, schools and residential homes and clearly a violation. When the BBMP Joint Commissioner Veerabhadraswamy and MLA Satish Reddy act on these widespread violations?

POTHOLES REMAIN; AIRTEL MESSES FOOTPATHS

“How can they erect poles in public places to keep their junction boxes?” asks resident Subbuswamy. And apparently, over 160 such poles have already been erected in HSR. Imagine every telecom provider and fibre optic company erecting poles on the footpath in the future? It’s time the BBMP and the state government wakes up to this civic nonsense. To add to it is the BBMP. 1st A Main Road in Sector 6 is fully tarred and 7th Cross Road in Sector 1 was asphalted for the second time in less than three months, whereas many other roads have not been asphalted for the last ten years. Not to mention, the many potholes in areas like Sector 2, 3 and 7 that are left unattended. Adds Subbuswamy: “Only good roads are being re-asphalted for obvious reasons. But mercilessly agencies like Airtel, are damaging the roads.”

FOOTPATH ENCROACHMENTS SHOULD GO
“Even god cannot save HSR Layout as all the footpaths in all the main roads are encroached by the commercial complexes, forcing people to walk on the main roads,” says Sector 7 resident BNR Reddy. “Time and again, it has been brought to the notice of BBMP, corporator and others. They are not bothered about the complaints. This clearly shows that the BBMP engineers and the corporator are encouraging such violations. It is high time they wake up.”

DOODLE AWAY

World of Titan & Fastrack Showroom on 27th Main in Sector 1 celebrated children’s day in style. They played host to a drawing and colouring competition for the kids of HSR Layout without any fee. The theme was Little Pixels – Vision for Digital India. Bharti Anand of Vibgyor High judged the event and picked six winners. Participation certificates and Zoop geometric boxes were given to all participants. Home-made refreshments made it a healthy affair too. We congratulate the winners: Jairen (5 years), Dhriti (5), Aakarsh (8), Jeremy (9), Yeshas Anup (10) and Jojishnu (10).

SAVE THIS TREE

Sector 4 resident Geetha VM is pained to tell us that two trees outside newly-built shops on 17th Cross are going to die “as they are concreted around without giving breathing space for the roots”. Will the forest ministry and the horticulture department of the BBMP take action, please?

FOOD VENDOR NUISANCE

Resident Santosh Srinivas requested the BBMP to check the food vendor nuisance near the BMTC yard in Sector 4 way back in September, but nothing has been done so far. “There are a few food vendors who dump the garbage and waste directly into the drains and clog them,” he says. We request health inspector Vinod to take immediate action on them. Of late, Vinod has been proactive on this front and has fined bakeries allowing for smoking in a public area in addition to littering the place and using plastic bags in Sector 3. Kudos to him for that.

ENCROACHMENTS GALORE

Footpaths encroached and buildings built in blatant violations are mushrooming in HSR Layout. With the vacancy of BBMP Assistant Executive Engineer falling vacant after Venkatesh was sacked, there is no one to complain to as in-charge engineer Murlidhar and BBMP Joint Commissioner express their helplessness. So it’s about time, the residents took the help of the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force. You could call Superintendent of Police on these numbers: 080-22975587, 080-22975589. Best of luck.