BENGALURU: Soon after taking charge as the administrator of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Friday, Gaurav Gupta got to work. The State government appointed him as the administrator after the BBMP Council’s term ended on September 10. Soon after taking charge, he told TNIE that as the rain is creating havoc in the city, officials should be visible on ground and available to the people. “Control rooms have been set up in all zones and problems on ground are known. All that is required is supervision and direction. The process will be streamlined,” he said.
Though the tenure of corporators has ended, they should help the BBMP by sharing their inputs and information, he said. On using his expertise in the IT-BT sector in Palike administration, Gupta said the BBMP is a permanent organisation with a working system. The portals will be made more user-friendly and through IT, better citizen connect will be established, he added.
Steps to tackle Covid-19 are going on at the state level and the BBMP will do as required. As a first step, one lakh rapid antigen test kits are being procured and after that, two lakh more will be ordered. Already, five lakh tests have been done by the BBMP. On BBMP’s finances, Gupta said tax collection has come down and there is a need to strengthen it. A meeting will be held soon with the officials to take their inputs.
There is already talk among officials and former corporators about the working relationship between Gupta and BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, as they have worked together in the past. Gupta was even slated to be posted as BBMP Commissioner, but Prasad was finally chosen for the job. An official seeking anonymity said, “Since both (commissioner and administrator) are of the rank of Principal Secretary, they could either make the best of a team or have differences. We will have to wait and see.”