Discrimination in fund allocation, pothole filling, claim Bengaluru’s Congress leaders

BENGALURU: Garden city became garbage city and now it has turned into pothole city. The ruling BJP is discriminating against constituencies represented by Opposition party leaders, allege Congress MLAs.

The MLAs of the main opposition party from Bengaluru say the government is playing pothole politics and allege that there is discrimination in allocation of grants. “Due to this, there are more potholes in our constituencies”, claims Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy.

Garbage dumped by the roadside in Jayanagar.

“The raps by the high court do not seem to have yielded results. The government and the BBMP are discriminating between constituencies represented by the BJP and the Congress. For BJP constituencies, Rs 9,890 crore has been allotted for overall development whereas only Rs 2,135 crore has been allotted for constituencies represented by Congress”, Sowmya Reddy pointed out.

Further, she said, “I asked BBMP to fill potholes in Jayanagar, but they point fingers at BMRCL. Where work orders have been issued, there are no contractors. The government claims Rs 20,000 crore has been spent on roads. Where has the money gone? Eight people have lost their lives due to potholes, but the government does not care. I dont know whether this government is alive or dead.”

Senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy said, “Since the BBMP elections are nearing, the CM is doing rounds of his party MLAs’ constituencies. He thinks by developing only those constituecies Bengaluru will develop. All 28 constituencies should be develped, not just the 15 represented by the BJP.”

“When our government was in power, we gave Rs 150 crore to each BJP MLA’s constituency while Congress MLAs got Rs 200-250 crore on an average. But now, they are taking four times more funds”, he remarked.

The condition of roads in Chamarajpet.

In Chamarajpet constituency, represented by B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, roads are littered with potholes. Between KR Market and Sirsi Circle itself, there are hundreds of potholes. Even though arterial roads are dotted with potholes, nothing has been done to fill them.

The pitiable condition of roads in Gandhinagar.

Gandhinagar, in the heart of the city which sees heavy traffic, too is not spared of the pothole menace. The constituency is represented by Dinesh Gundurao of Congress.