Jayanagar residents demand better amenities from BBMP

Jayanagar residents demand better amenities from BBMP

Staff Reporter

Civic officials face a barrage of complaints at a meeting

BBMP urged to set up an auditorium at Puttanna cinema

BDA, BBMP draw flak for vacant sites turning into eyesore

BANGALORE: Lack of an auditorium to conduct cultural programmes, improper park maintenance, chaotic traffic, haphazard parking, irregular garbage clearance and poor underground drainage system. All these and many more problems were raised by residents of Jayanagar 4th Block at a grievance meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, organised by the Federation of Jayanagar Residents’ Associations, saw people complaining to the jurisdictional civic officials and Jayanagar MLA Ramalinga Reddy that though Jayanagar was one of the posh localities in the city, its problems were no different from those of other areas.

Though the area had theatres such as Puttanna Kanagal Chitramandira, Sanathana Kalakshetra and a Government community hall, they were being misused. “We want the BBMP to set up an auditorium in the Puttanna Kanagal theatre and also provide the other halls for conducting cultural programmes. Though we belong to such a beautiful extension, we do not have an auditorium here,” Keshava Kumar N., secretary of the federation said.

K.V. Bhaskar Murthy, president of the federation, pointed out several discrepancies in the existing self-assessment scheme (SAS) of property tax.

“The whole system is a farce as the tax depends on declaration by the owner. There are several cases where the tax for a rented building in less than that occupied by the owner. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should conduct a survey and verify the declarations made by the property owners,” he said.

BBMP Chief Engineer (South) S. Muninagappa said that a nine-storeyed complex would be built above the Puttana Kanagal theatre.

Ramalinga Reddy, MLA, directed the officials to ensure that all the problems were redressed at the earliest.

Jurisdictional officials from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Metro Rail, traffic police and former area corporator N. Nagaraju were present.