Residents angry with CMC

Residents angry with CMC
Deccan Herald

The residents of Bommanahalli City Municipal Council have innumerable problems when it comes to basic infrastructure facilities.

The residents of Bommanahalli City Municipal Council have innumerable problems when it comes to basic infrastructure facilities.

On Sunday, it was the turn of residents of Sreenidhi Layout near Konakunte in the CMC to air their grievances at a meeting scheduled to be attended by BWSSB and the Bommahahalli CMC Commissioner. But with none of the government representatives turning up, it just became a forum for nearly 400 residents to vent out their anger against the government.

The residents said the CMC, without providing basic amenities to old layouts, had constructed new layouts such as Sreenidhi, Kothanur, Chunchungatta and Konanakunte in the recent years.

Moreover, the residents of 950 houses in Sreenidhi Layout, are being served notices to pay taxes for supply of Cauvery water and drainage which have not been provided by the CMC. The entire layout stinks as sewerage gets stagnated, they alleged.

Retired bank employee Manjunath said, “The CMC began issuing notices for collecting taxes from the last one month. However, there are no facilities available. Our requirement is met through borewells.”

Another resident, A Sharieff said, “Only certain layouts in the CMC have basic amenities. However, thousands of houses have come up now. There is no match between the facilities and the growth.”

S Chandrashekar, another participant at the meeting said, “We can pay taxes but what guarantee is there that the taxes will be used for the purpose we pay for? We have been demanding facilities from many years. Can we expect anything better from the CMC?”

However, Renugopal, President of Sreenidhi Layout Residents’ Welfare Association urged the residents to pay their taxes.

“In case the authorities fail to deliver, we can launch a united agitation demanding that the facilities be provided, but this cannot be done without doing our duties,” he argued.

Meanwhile, M V Ramaswamy Raju, Member, Bommanahalli CMC, informed the gathering that Rs 120 crore has been sanctioned for a 158-km stretch of drainage pipe laying in Konankunte area which includes Sreenidhi Layout. Tenders have been invited for road works, he added.

Protest

Owners of 18 houses of the Layout, staged a protest at the venue alleging that the government had identified their houses for demolition as they were on the Rajakaluve, which blocked free flow of water in the storm water drain.