BENGALURU: Miffed by the delay in removing
idols
immersed in
Ulsoor Lake
,
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP) commissioner BH Anil Kumar on Saturday came down heavily on officers and told them to perform or seek retirement.
“I have always been saying that our officers need to be sensitive and proactive. If not, they can take retirement and sit at home,” read his message being circulated among civic officials.
The warning comes in the backdrop of the immersion pool at Ulsoor lake being filled with Durga idols and officials not paying attention to clearing after coming back from leave. BBMP joint commissioner (east zone) M Muniraju maintained that immersion of Durga idols was being done till Friday evening and desilting work will be taken up later.
However, Kumar said the debris should have been removed on a daily basis and warned of imposing penalty on jurisdictional officials for not paying attention to cleanliness. “The bad press we get is because of irresponsible actions of our officers and this will not be tolerated,” he said.
Barely minutes after his message was sent, a team led by BBMP east zone chief engineer BS Prasad and executive engineer Maradi Rangappa were seen at Ulsoor Lake, taking stock of the situation and initiating remedial action. Within two hours, the commissioner was informed about debris having been moved and, by evening, officials sent photographic evidence of the de-watering process.
Sources in BBMP attributed the delay in clearing the immersion pool to continuous holidays last week and the flow of idols. Moreover, BBMP’s rules were not followed during immersion of idols. “BBMP had clearly banned immersion of idols made of Plaster of
Paris
. Ganesha idols were banned but Durga idols were found to be immersed in the lake which polluted it,” said a regular walker at Ulsoor Lake.