Media Reports To Make Engineers Liable For Penalties

Times of India

Engineers working with Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) beware. Mayor P.R. Ramesh will not spare you if newspapers publish pictures of potholes in your area. Though the mode of punishment is yet to be finalised (Transfer? Salary cut? Duty without offs? No perks?), we are told that it is going to be very very tough. “The concerned area engineer will be penalised if reports or photographs in the newspapers are published,’’ Ramesh said on Tuesday. The mayor’s threat comes hours after the 27/9 deadline set by himself to fill potholes in the city ended with the BCC claiming all the potholes barring a few here and there have been filled.

This is the third deadline set in the last one month — first was chief minister’s deadline of three days, next was BCC commissioner K. Jothiramalingam’s 19/9 deadline and the last one by the mayor himself. Ramesh’s predecessor C.M. Nagaraj too was an expert in issuing fancy warnings to engineers. He even had announced a helpline for the public to register their complaints about potholes and inactive engineers. However, this remained as a naam ke wasthe warning! Potholes sprang making the life to motorists miserable. “We have filled all the potholes that were identified on September 8 after CM’s meeting. However, due to rains, new potholes might come up which will be filled at the earliest." promises engineer-in-chief Rame Gowda. Look out for potholes and if you find one, alert us now.

Traffic planning unit mooted
From potholes to traffic. Looks like mayor Ramesh is serious to make Bangalore better. He has written to chief minister Dharam Singh to form a traffic planning unit in view of the increase in vehicular population. He has has suggested that the unit be headed by an IPS officer and comprise town planners who can moot long-term and permanent solution to the traffic problems. Over to Dharamji.