Choultries lingering with issues

BANGALORE: Lack of maintenance  is  the first thought that will strike anyone who comes  across the community halls managed by the Bruhat Banagalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). City Express, as a part of its community hall series, unfolds a host of issues surrounding the choultries at Yadiyur, Ulsoor and Hoysalanagar, each of which is maintained by the BBMP. These halls fail to adhere to hygiene and safety guidelines is what is missing among all these halls.Hall operators are supposed to take every possible precaution to deal with fire or any other emergency measures. Some of the halls that came with kitchen did not have proper ventilation facility making it vulnerable in case of leakage of  gas cylinder. But none of the criteria was covered by the BBMP community halls. Ulsoor choultry reflected huge maintenance failure, as the place looked completely unhygienic with broken taps, dirty rooms, filthy toilets and messy kitchens. The same situation goes for the community hall at Hoysalanagar. It was obsrved that there were no proper parking facilities  since it is  situated in a market place it can make traffic movement all the more inconvenient. When we contacted ST Mani, in-charge of booking the dates for the choultry said, “ We conduct all sorts of function, but the booking takes place only at the headquarter of the corporation.The total cost for a single day is Rs 7,500 including utensils.” The Corporator of Halsoor, R Uday Kumar and confronted about the bizarre situation of the choultry at Ulsoor he was confused as to wheather the area comes under him and reflecting his ignorance. The Corporator of CV Raman Nagar M Krishnappa gave the same perplexed reply and said, “The area comes under Halsoor and not under my ward.”Out of the three choultries that the reporter visited, Yadiyur Choultry as though it had some of the required attributes in place.However, the thing that stood out was the lack of fire safety equipment. Though there are parking facility available at the choultry, it does not seem proportionate to the capacity that the hall can accomodate.Watchman Ram said, “Except water and electricity everything has to be managed by the client themselves including the payment to the cleaning ladies.” Generator and other extra facilities have to be born by the client as well. When City Express contacted the Corporator of Yadiyur, NR Ramesh, he said, “I have written letters to the BBMP somewhere in the month of April or May about the requirement of the fire safety equipment keeping in mind the emergency situations that could occur, however, no action has been planned yet.”Speaking on the budget for the maintenance of the community hall, he said, “On December 5, a fund of 5 lakh was sanctioned to to maintain the work in the community halls of the ward.” He further added that the hall relies on rain water harvesting instead of water from the BWSSB.