BANGALORE: Mayor B S Sathyanarayana on Thursday inaugurated the ‘Katte Sathya Sabhangana’, an auditorium on the BBMP premises, named after him.
Sathyanarayana, a five-time councillor, is also known as Katte Sathya. “The auditorium was constructed with grants from the Mayor’s fund. Therefore, we named it after him,” said P Dayanand, secretary, BBMP Employees’ Union.
The Mayor, however, feigned ignorance. “We had plans to release a DVD on the theme song for the ‘Namma Bengaluru, Nanna Kodige’ initiative. But I was surprised to see my name here. I did not tell them to name the auditorium after me. I got to know only after I entered the building,” he said.
The hi-tech auditorium has been constructed in the BBMP Employees’ Union building. Officials said `10 lakh was released from the Mayor’s grant for the `20 lakh project.
The decision to name the auditorium after Satyanarayana has attracted criticism from BJP councillors as well as opposition Congress. According to them, any such proposal has to come before the Council for approval.
A senior Congress councillor said that the State government guidelines state that parks, junctions, roads or buildings cannot be named after a person who is alive. “It is unfortunate that he (Mayor) being one of the senior-most members and the first citizen of Bangalore, violated the guidelines. One has to take approval from the government or BBMP Council to name any property. But nothing was done,” he said.
Yediyur councillor N R Ramesh said, “In every budget, some amount is set aside as Mayor grants, which is taxpayers’ money. He (Sathyanarayana) did not give money from his pocket. Under the grant, allocation is made for many purposes including asphalting roads. Can these roads be named after him?” he asked. “It looks like the Mayor has done it for publicity,” he said.
JD(S) floor leader R Prakash said, “BBMP is not his property to name the auditorium after him.” He demanded that the name be changed immediately.
‘Namma Bengaluru, Nanna Koduge’
“Namma Bengaluru, Nanna Koduge” (Our Bangalore, my contribution), a public-private partnership initiative by BBMP will be launched on Tuesday. Mayor B S Sathyanarayana, who spoke to reporters after releasing the theme music DVD and documentary on the initiative, said around 350 organisations have come forward to be part of the programme. “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the initiative at Freedom Park,” he said. Any individual or organisation can join the initiative even after the launch. Further, Sathyanarayana said some organisations have agreed to adopt two or more properties. Canara Bank has agreed to adopt two parks and a lake, he said.