BENGALURU: Bruhat Bangal ore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner M Lakshminarayana has said that street vendors will not be allowed to use the footpaths on roads built under the TenderSURE scheme.
The commissioner was speaking to a few members from the Campaign for People’s Participation in Urban Governance who had come to Palike seeking clarification on TenderSURE (tender specifications for urban road execution) roads on Saturday.
When one of the members pointed out that street vendors have been evicted from roads where TenderSURE projects are in progress, the commissioner said these footpaths were encroached, leaving no space for pedestrians. Even the High Court has directed them to make space for pedestrians and not vendors.
“There are around one crore people in the city and one lakh vendors. One crore should not suffer because of one lakh,” he said.
When Reshma, another member, objected to spending `200 crore on a 10-km road, the commissioner said, “A sum of `2 crore was spent to asphalt a 2-km road. But agencies including BWSSB, BESCOM and others dug up the newly asphalted road. But TenderSURE roads will not have these problems as we will leave space for each agency. There will be no road cutting and the roads will last longer.”
Another member, Col Mathew, complained that the BBMP has bypassed many procedures and not consulted the public.
‘Just Executing Project’
The commissioner said TenderSURE is a state government project, and the government has given the project to a private agency to design it and the Palike is just executing it.
“We do not have a bigger role. You should ask the government,” he said.