BENGALURU: WITH the extension of the deadline for the completion of the Socio-Economic Survey in Bengaluru, the wait for government services has just got longer.
Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar said that the deadline for the survey has been extended till October 31 in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits.
Services like e-khata, revenue-related services, clearing fallen trees, attending to clogged drains, roadside water logging clearance, and various works in the Regional Transport Offices (RTO), including transfer of ownership of vehicles, renewal of licence, hypothecation process of sending message to vehicle owners who clear loan on vehicles, all will continue to remain affected.
A senior official from GBA’s Revenue Department stated that, not just e-khata, most of the so far around 8.5 lakh e-khatas out of 32 lakh have been generated, and due to the ongoing survey, daily targets have not been able to be met. Tax collection, and other sources of revenue generation is also impacted severely.
Agreeing with the senior official, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Employees and Officers Association President Amruth Raj said the works related to e-khata and revenue is impacted as out of 1,500 revenue employees majority of them are on survey duty.
“Sixty Revenue Officers, 30 Assistant Revenue Officers in GBA, along with hundreds of Revenue Inspectors, Tax Inspectors are on survey duty and hence are facing inconvenience with e-khata and others”, said Raj.
Due to the delay, the owners who want to obtain loan for construction activities will have to wait longer.
If this is the case with the GBA revenue department, the Forest Department in the GBA is more worried as the North East Monsoon, which results in issues like trees uprooting and branch fall will pose as a big challenge.
“There are only 18 staffers, including the Deputy Chief Conservator, across the GBA. In case of any emergencies, rushing the staff along with the supporting staff of ward engineers will surely be delayed. Many of them are on survey duty away from the official work jurisdiction, and by the time they conclude the survey, its late evening and they are exhausted, hence heading to the spot to attend to the complaints is a herculean task,” said a Range Forest Officer with the GBA.
Impacted by the non-availability of officials at the RTO has resulted in many motorists fuming at the government. Raju N, a senior citizen who went to Kasturi Nagar RTO for his license renewal, waited for officials for an hour and was later informed by the group D staff that his work can only be done after the officials return to work after the survey.
“I visited the RTO on October 16 and was told that my work will be done only after Deepawali. However, now that the survey is extended till the month-end, I am sure that my work will be done only in November 1st week,” said Raju.
A senior officer from the administration section of the transport department said that around 200 employees have been deployed from 11 RTOs in Bengaluru and also from head office, hence some of the motorists will be inconvenienced.
