Another of BMP's harebrained schemes takes off

Cobblers to jazz it up on prime roads
Deccan Herald

While the cobbler kiosks are waiting to be occupied, they are already acting as brand building spaces, catching the consumer’s attention.

Having evicted them from along KG Road, the BMP is now rehabilitating them along some prominent show piece roads of the City. MG Road alone will house nine of them.

Classy-looking but unoccupied, cobbler kiosks have been seen around some City stretches like Richmond Road, Sankey Road and MG Road over the last two months. According to the BMP, the kiosks are meant for the rehabilitation of the 76 cobblers it had evicted from KG Road in November 2003 and the rehabilitation is being done as per court orders.

Sources in both the BMP and the outdoor agency entrusted with the task of installing the kiosks claimed that the cobblers have been demanding space along the prominent roads.

“The beneficiaries are all SC/STs; the kiosks are being installed at places of their choice. Failure to meet their demand will attract allegations of unfairness on our part,” BMP sources said.

A faction of the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samithi representing the cobblers refuted these claims. Licenses have been given to just 20 cobblers based on a High Court order of July 2001 which pertained to the difference between hawkers and cobblers. Only the licenses were issued by the ARO(Gandhinagar) in January 2005, no kiosks have been given, they said. The location of the kiosk is selected by the contracting agency and some of them are being allotted to persons who do not fall under the cobblers category, they alleged.

Fact remains that these kiosks are being promoted as advertisement spaces. The four-sided kiosk structure is open on two sides and has ad space panels on two sides. “We had presented a design where the kiosk is covered on all four sides. The BMP sought a change of design saying they do not want the kiosk to be used as houses by the cobblers,” said sources in the agency.

They noted that licences for the beneficiaries seeking space along MG Road were issued in early May. “Initially only four were slotted for MG Road, five more were sanctioned on demand,” they said.

The agency has been contracted to install a total of 50 kiosks, work has been completed on 30 of them. Seventeen of them are along the East division - MG Road, Richmond Road, Residency Road, the others are in the Gandhinagar-KG Road area. The beneficiaries are likely to occupy them in about a week, according to the contractor.

Meanwhile, the BMP is yet to issue the MoU on the contract. BMP officials attributed the delay to the by-elections; agency sources regretted that electrification work on the kiosks is pending because the BESCOM will not issue them permission unless they produce the MoU.

Each kiosk costing about Rs 40,000 is inclusive of a tool box and granite seating for the beneficiary. Power supply will be provided to them free between 6 pm and 11 pm, sources said.