BENGALURU: Cutting across party lines, BBMP councillors blamed their constituency MLAs for creating hurdles in development works. During the BBMP council meeting on Thursday, some corporators alleged that MLAs have been preventing them from taking up development works, especially road works.
Vannarpet’s BJP councillor K Shivakumar alleged that he had made necessary arrangements for the last two months to asphalt Nala Road in his ward. The ward falls under Shantinagar assembly constituency which is represented by Congress MLA N A Haris.
“We had fixed the date (December 22) to start asphalting the road. But officials did not turn up. This is because Haris had instructed the officials to not start the work,’’ he said. “Although officials are employed by the BBMP, they take orders from the legislators and ignore us,’’ he added.
Councillor Manjula Narayanaswamy from JD(S), representing Laggere, said she too was facing a similar situation. “Congress MLA Muniratna is deliberately preventing asphalting work,’’ she said. Former mayor Shanthakumari said earlier both legislators and councillors functioned in coordination. “But now the relation between the MLA and councillor has become rotten,” she said.
BBMP school students yet to get textbooks
The academic year will soon come to an end, but students studying in BBMP run schools are yet to get textbooks as BBMP could not get bidders for the tender.
Cutting across party lines, councillors blamed officials for the lack of textbooks and sweaters for students. Speaking at the Council meeting on Thursday, former Mayor Shanthakumari said students enrolled in BBMP schools are from poor backgrounds. “Why should one come to a BBMP school if we don’t supply books and shoes?” she asked.
BBMP special commissioner Ravindran said, “When we checked the records from last year, it was found that bidders who supplied books were not paid. The file is before the Accounts department,” he said.
Unhappy with his reply, councillors created a ruckus at the meeting and demanded that the officials concerned be punished. BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said the issue will be sorted out.