BENGALURU: With hundreds of supporters of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and MLA Byrathi Basavaraj crowding out citizens during the ‘Walk With Bengaluru’ programme on Saturday, the DCM promised to hold another meeting at Bengaluru East City Corporation but only for the IT cohorts.
The assurance to have an exclusive interaction with the IT community came after the government faced backlash from the IT sector in recent days.
Speaking after the event, the DCM said, “Bengaluru East City Corporation (BECC) is the richest corporation in the state in terms of revenue generation. Earlier, their taxes were spent across Bengaluru; now all the money will be used to develop infrastructure projects for KR Puram and Mahadevpura constituencies.”
He said he will hold separate meetings with IT-BT companies. “Our work is the answer to those who criticise us. We are focused on our work and are not bothered about unwarranted criticism,” he said.
“We are collecting taxes worth Rs 6,000 crore from the city, of which Bengaluru East has a share of Rs 1,600 crore. The taxes that the respective corporation collects must now be used in the same zone. Bengaluru East Corporation is a very resourceful corporation, and the proceeds will be used to fix the civic issues here.
Earlier, the amount collected here was used in other parts of the city too. We have taken many steps to expedite work. The Council of the Corporation can spend up to Rs 10 crore without tenders, and the Commissioner can spend Rs 3 crore without tenders,” he said.
“There are a lot of encroachment cases in KR Puram area, and many illegal buildings have been constructed. As per the Supreme Court order, they will be demolished. We have exempted sites up to 30x40 from OC and CC, but we will not allow construction without setbacks,” he added.
As some residents pointed out that the K R Puram Santhe (fair) is causing traffic jams, the DCM said he will look into the possibilities of shifting the fair elsewhere.
“KR Puram has a national highway, flyovers and Metro. We will link the tunnel road to all these infrastructure in this area. We may not be able to solve 100% of your grievances, but we are making an sincere attempt,” he said.
Asked if Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had a discussion with him about developing roads in Bengaluru, he said, “Happy about it, let her choose the roads she wants to develop. She has not discussed anything with us yet. We will offer full cooperation if she wants to take up some work.”
