Residents and the Palike come together

BANGALORE: Creating a platform for citizens to voice their opinion, the Samanvaya Vedike in Jayanagar, organised a meeting between citizens and officials from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Sunday morning. Attended by Niranjan, special commissioner, BBMP and a host of other engineers from the city corporation, the meeting allowed citizens to raise issues that needed to be addressed in their ward.“Jayanagar should maintain its residential character”, said YK Muddukrishna, President, Samanvaya Vedike. Citizens present at the meeting voiced their opinion on unauthorised constructions in the area, illegal banners in parks and garbage that is not cleared, highlighting the fact that the general routine in the area has collapsed.“The roads are being widened not because they need to, but because cars need to be parked,” said Yogaraj, a resident of Jayanagar. As residents came up and spoke of issues in the neighbourhood, the BBMP officials took down extensive notes. Hemachandra, joint commissioner, South, BBMP, Lokesh, health officer, BBMP and Dr  Meenakshi Bharath, chairman, solid waste management round table, were some among the few who attended the meeting.“The roads and the pipes on 1st C Main road need to be fixed immediately. There is excessive water clogging in the area and has become extremely difficult to cross the road,” said Dr AS Vijayakanta, a resident present at the meeting. The residents association also issued pamphlets to citizens as an appeal to residents to ensure more co-operation in ensuring that there is house to house collection of waste. They also appealed to the residents to segregate between organic and inorganic waste.The association also narrowed down on some fundamental issues which included the proper maintenance of parks, curbing the stray dog menace, streamlining traffic management and satisfactory municipal waste management.