A taste of citizens’ woes

A taste of citizens’ woes
Deccan Herald

Raised voices and trembling hands marked the occasion of Minister for Primary and Secondary Educati on Ramalinga Reddy meeting his voters in Jayanagar 4th block on Friday, reports DHNS from Bangalore.

Problems ranging from illicit lovers to illegal constructions were raised, and the minister and his coterie made efforts to offer explanations and soothe the somewhat worked up people of the constituency.

Mr K V Bhaskar Murthy, president of the Federation of Jayanagar Residents’ Association was one of those apparently annoyed constituents. He informed the minister that, while he had regard for the minister and the corporator N Nagaraju, officials lower down in the echelons were irresponsible. He was particularly incensed by the fact that many of the letters he had addressed to them on various issues had not even been replied to, forget come of any use.

He reserved a large chunk of his contempt for the health officer of the locality, going as far as to state that “the health department is dead”. To Mr Nagaraju’s contention that a mere phone call to him would have helped matters, Mr Murthy’s rejoinder was that he did not think it right to call the corporator or minister for every small problem.

There was no lack of variety in the complaints. The issue of the delay in renovation of the bus stand was brought, as was that of illegal constructions. One lady had problems with the drains around her house, while some others wondered why the supposedly free toilets near the bus stand were being charged for use.

Another lady was miffed about the fact that despite the availability of toilets, many citizens were more inclined to use the great outdoors for their morning ablutions, and that in the vacant site next to her house.

Somebody also objected to the fact that young men and women spent time sitting in a park in the area. Mr Reddy told the policemen to create a furore for a day or two, and that they would all go away.