Urban Infrastructure

Rs. 800-crore work to be completed by December

Tuesday, 05 September 2017 10:12 administrator

The Hindu 05.09.2017

Rs. 800-crore work to be completed by December

Delay was because we followed due process: George

As parts of the city drown during the rain, the much-touted Rs. 800-crore work on reinforcing stormwater drains, which was expected to be completed before this monsoon, will now be completed by December. Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George on Sunday attributed the delay to the time taken to get all approvals under ‘due process’.

RCC drains

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had tendered 408 works to construct reinforced cement concrete (RCC) drains of 192 km at a cost of Rs. 800 crore after the July 2016 floods. On Sunday, BBMP officials admitted that work started as late as May.

Mr. George announced that an additional Rs. 300 crore proposal would be placed before the Cabinet on Monday. Once these works are completed, citizens would not have to worry about the aftermath of rains.

Currently, tenders for 70 works for flood damage correction have been approved under the Chief Minister’s grant.

This includes for repair and construction of drains in areas, which suffered the brunt of rains this year, he said.

On August 5, a review by Mr. George revealed that only 54.66% of the works had begun and just 5.3% had been completed.

Robot excavators

The BBMP has submitted a Rs. 2 crore proposal to get robot multi-purpose excavators for dredging and cleaning of drains. “With the use of such machines, we will be able to complete dredging in vast stretches quickly,” said Mr. Prasad.

Streetlights, overflowing drains, most reported civic problems

Friday, 04 August 2017 11:36 administrator

The Hindu 04.08.2017

Streetlights, overflowing drains, most reported civic problems

Half the problems reported were from four districts in the State

Non-functioning streetlights across the urban local bodies (ULBs) have turned out to be the most annoying issue for the city dwellers. A majority of the grievances reported to the local bodies through call centres or directly to the municipal administration department using the integrated web portal and the mobile application were about them.

According to the reports on the Municipal Administration Grievance Dashboard, the department received 63,273 complaints from the ULBs in the 13 districts from January 1 to Wednesday (August 2) and 96% of the complaints had been solved. Of the grievances reported in the last seven months, 11,585 were about streetlights. Most of the traditional streetlights had been replaced with LED bulbs across the State as part of the energy saving initiative.

Poor drainage system, dumping of debris and garbage on public places also turned troublesome for the public. About 9,000 complaints each had been reported during the last seven months. Regarding garbage, 5,129 complaints were made. Next on the list were poor drinking water, the absence of sanitation staff and overflowing underground drainages. The reports revealed that half the problems reported were from just four districts — East Godavari, Kadapa, Kurnool and West Godavari — indicating that most of the problems were occurring at the ULBs other than municipal corporations.

In East Godavari alone, 10,098 complaints had been reported so far this year. In the last one month, the majority of the 8,467 complaints were over streetlights followed by open drains, UGD and drinking water. However, only 81% of the complaints had been resolved so far. On Wednesday, about 171 complaints had been received.

Manual sweeping machines, power sprayers for GVMC

Friday, 04 August 2017 11:35 administrator

The Hindu 04.08.2017

Manual sweeping machines, power sprayers for GVMC

Collector Pravin Kumar and GVMC Commissioner M Hari Narayanan at the inauguration of manual sweeping machines and power sprayers in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Collector and GVMC Special Officer Pravin Kumar on Wednesday inaugurated manual sweeping machines and power sprayers. Municipal Commissioner M Hari Narayanan was present.

The German-made machines are aimed at improving sanitation and reducing workers’ grind.

The 20 machines and 10 sprayers will be distributed all over the city with emphasis on the core area comprising Zones 2, 3 and 4.

The machines will be used on important, end-to-end roads. While manual sweeping with broom covers one km of road in an hour, the machines can cover three to four km.

The sprayers have better reach and can also be used for aerial spraying. In phases, more machines and sprayers will be acquired, it was learnt.

Additional Commissioner (General) G V V S Murthi and Chief Medial Officer (Health) A Hemanth participated.

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