BANGALORE: Many councillors on Wednesday questioned whether Bangalore will face the normal monsoon havoc this time too and sought to know the measures taken by the BBMP to control such a situation.Opposition Leader M K Gunashekar said, “Everytime it rains, there is a mess.Chief Ministers, Mayor, Commissioner and all other people visit the rain-affected areas and this has become a routine affair.In April 2010, the then Chief Minister had assured citizens that encroachments on raja kaluves (main storm water drains) would be removed.Later in August 2011, at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister, the officials had claimed that they would come out with a plan to permanently solve flooding issues in the city within three months. It has been 10 months since and there is no relief in sight.Hundreds of crores sanctioned under JNNURM have been spent on the four valleys - Koramangala, Hebbala, Challaghatta and Vrushabhavathi - but the city is likely to get flooded this monsoon too.”Gurappana Palya councillor Mohammed Rizwan wanted to know the progress of desilting of secondary and tertiary drains. He said the tenders floated in his ward were cancelled suddenly.He asked Commissioner about the alternative arrangements to prevent the flood. Many councillors joined him.Replying to their query, BBMP Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda claimed that the action plan on removal of encroachments on raja kaluves has been sent to the State Government.“Under JNNURM, the development of four valleys was taken up and of Rs 925 crore, the BBMP has spent Rs 410 crore between 2006 and 2011.The initial 15 packages have been scrapped now, since the technical committee pointed out that the detailed project reports were not comprehensive.We have proposed 21 new packages forRs 510 crore. This new proposal has been sent to the State Government, while the Centre has approval in principle,” he said. He also said that the BBMP proposed to take up another project for Rs 150 crore in the valleys.The tender, which had been floated through the e-procurement system, did not have any takers. The reason given is BBMP has not paid the bills to the contractors.“I have ordered to pay the pending `12 crore and we will float the tender again soon. Hope this time, we will get takers,” he added.‘No security for Councillors'All the councillors defended independent councillor Shivakumar (Shantalanagar ward), who was arrested and later released by the Cubbon Park police in connection with an assault case.Shivakumar said a private builder had encroached two sites, and was constructing a five-star hotel, which had reduced the width of the storm water drain to 17 ft from 70 ft.Nagapura councillor S Harish said the two Major Work Committee chairpersons of BBMP had recommended that the khata be cancelled, as the two sites had been amalgamated illegally.“After the Joint Commissioner cancelled the khata, the builder who had initially lodged a complaint against an assistant executive engineer withdrew it and lodged a complaint against Shivakumar,” he said.Commissioner, in his reply said, the High Court had ruled in favour of the BBMP in this case.“The court has directed the BBMP to ensure that the drain is not covered, besides cancelling the khata.The builder has gone for an appeal.We have urged former advocate general Ashok Haranahalli to be the senior counsel in this case,” Gowda said.Many councillors raised objections against the arrest and said the councillors were public servants.“Shivakumar went to inspect the site, but a false complaint was lodged.There is no security for councillors,” one of the councillors said. Interestingly, not many stood for TVCC Chief, who was threatened by miscreants.
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