BENGALURU: Residents will no longer have to go all the way to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters to meet officials and get their problems resolved. They can now go to the senior IAS/ IFS officer appointed in charge of their zone.
On Wednesday, BBMP Commissioner Kumar Naik issued an order to reduce citizens’ travelling time to register their grievances with the authorities. He has designated senior IAS and IFS officers to be in charge of the various zones.
Five officials — four IAS officers and one IFS man — have been selected. Rashmi V Mahesh will handle East and Bommanahalli zones, Subodh Yadav will take care of South and West zones,
IFS officer Kumar Pushkar will look after Yelahanka, while Ravishankar and Hemaji Naik have been given Mahadevapura-Dasarahalli and Rajarajeshwarinagar zones respectively.
Kumar Naik told Express that there are many powers which has been entrusted upon the zonal commissioners. But many of them are not exercised now. “Now with the designation of senior IAS and IFS officers, these zonal commissioners can consult them instead of waiting for my approval. They can sign the files and go ahead,” he said.
He also said the IAS/IFS officers will work from the head office, but would visit their zones regularly and interact with officials and citizens.
Recently, the High Court issued notice to the state government and BBMP over non-IAS/KAS officials being posted as joint commissioners or deputy commissioners. Last year, the BBMP Employees Union gave a memorandum to the then mayor demanding that non-IAS/KAS officials should not be chosen for these posts. However, commissioner Naik said the new order had nothing to do with these incidents.