BENGALURU:The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday shook up the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) so severely on the issue of illegal flexes, banners and hoardings that the civic body was forced into taking the most stringent approach so far to rid the city of the menace. The High Court has now strictly set a deadline of a week for BBMP to complete the process across the city.
So severe was the high court observation against this menace on Wednesday morning that it got BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad to order his officials to set aside all other work and get down to remove all illegal flexes, banners and hoardings from across Bengaluru. He set a deadline of 2.30 pm on Wednesday itself for them to do so, as the court was to resume hearing on the matter at that time.
The BBMP, however, could manage to pull down only 5,000 such illegal flexes, banners and hoardings, that too from certain pockets of the city.
Taking note of it, the court wondered why the BBMP waited till the court issued directions to remove them. “Why could you not remove them earlier? Now tell me, how much time do you need to put Bengaluru back on track,” the court asked while adjourning the hearing to August 8.
The court’s strict stance on the menace had its effect. It made the BBMP chief take a decision to file criminal cases against the offenders who put up new illegal flexes, boards or banners from Thursday. Prasad took up the issue with Bengaluru City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar, asking him to instruct his officials to register criminal cases against the offenders. This reportedly has the blessings of Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the Home Minister.
Prasad said he now plans to write letters to various political party offices against putting up flex and banners. The letters will be sent with copies of the high court direction, as “no one is above the law”.
On July 11, the KPCC put up huge illegal flex boards on footpaths of Queen’s Road as Dinesh Gundu Rao took over as KPCC chief, but no action was taken.