College students will no longer be involved in the KR Market cleaning drive by the BBMP and those operating businesses in the market have been told to keep the premises clean by themselves.
After visiting the market on Thursday, Bangalore District in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy directed the BBMP officials not to involve college students or NGOs in cleaning KR Market. The BBMP officials will have inspect the market every fortnight, he said.
Mayor B S Sathyanarayana said the BBMP spends around `50 lakh every year for keeping the locality clean, and now it was time the shopkeepers realised the need to keep their surroundings clean. “The attitude of many people living in the area has to change, and for that we need to conduct an awareness drive. The shopkeepers need to cooperate with the BBMP,” he said.
On Thursday, BBMP staff and the Rajanikanth Seva Samithi cleaned the market and its surroundings.
Action Against Revenue Officials
The Mayor said BBMP officials had failed to collect rent from shops in the market and nearly 400 of them were doing business without paying rent from 1998. “The outstanding amount is Rs 2.5 crore and I will write to the Commissioner to initiate action against the officials,” he said.
A few shops on the second floor need to be renovated and rented out soon. Enhancement of rent for these shops that have been pending from many years and the issue will also be placed before the BBMP council, he said.
The Mayor said he has asked the commissioner to take action against illegal collection of parking fees in many areas in the city.