Clear footpaths at last

Clear footpaths at last
Meena orders BBMP staff to clear fallen trees and branches
B K LAKSHMIKANTHA


Finally, citizens will be able to walk on footpaths with their heads held high, instead of peering down fearfully. At least, that’s what Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena intends to ensure.
On Thursday, he directed his personnel to ensure that footpaths in the city are cleared of half-cut trees, stems and fallen branches.
With monsoon round the corner, the BBMP commissioner has ordered his subordinates to clear dry branches from footpaths that are likely to obstruct pedestrians from walking freely.
The BBMP has already formed four teams for attending to such complaints during the rains. “We are planning to form three teams for the Byatarayanapura division and two teams for the East division. These teams will be equipped with vehicles and materials required for cutting and clearing fallen branches. Each team will comprise an engineer and eight to ten men,” said H A Hubart, Conservator of Forest.
“As we receive more complaints of tree falls during rainy season we have increased the teams. As of now, we have assigned one team during the night and three during the day, but as teams are being increased we are planning to have two teams working on night shift,” he said.
BBMP officials will begin the survey to identify trees which are weak and may cause trouble. “We will also be planting one lakh saplings of different varieties in the future. Around 30,000 saplings will be planted in Dasarahalli division, 10,000 saplings in East, 30,000 saplings in Mahadevapura and 30,000 saplings in Yelahanka division respectively. People nowadays are very conscious about the environment, and there is a huge demand from the public to plant saplings in there locality. In order to make the public more involved in conserving plant-life we will be engaging NGOs and various associations in our mission,” he said.
HOW TO CONTACT BBMP

• Head Quarters: 22100031 to 35

• East Zone: 22975803

• West Zone: 23561692

• South Zone 26566362

• Raja Rajeshwari Nagar Zone :28600954

• Bommanahalli Zone :25735642

• Mahadevapura: 28512300

• Byatarayanapura Zone :22975936

• Dasarahalli: 28394909