Bengaluru, Oct 15 The residents and taxpayers of Varthur, Balegere and Panathur localities, located close to tech hubs in Bengaluru, have written a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanding that the government provide good public infrastructure and then only collect taxes.
The letter sent to CM Siddaramaiah by the Individual Tax Payers Forum (ITPF) has stirred a debate over Bengaluru’s infrastructure on Wednesday, following repeated concerns raised by IT industry leaders and the BJP’s criticism of the Congress-led government for losing the Google AI hub to Andhra Pradesh.
The letter states that, "Urgent concern regarding unscientific and incomplete road, white topping, drainage works in Varthur-Balgere-Panathur area and request to CM to order Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) not to collect Property Tax for not providing us basic public infrastructure."
"Namma Bengaluru is globally recognised as India's IT hub, and such a casual approach and civic negligence simply erodes the pride and credibility of 'Brand Bengaluru' and should be unacceptable. Since the last few decades, the recognition is getting changed, and we, being the citizens and residents of Bengaluru, don't want to hear our city as a garbage city, a pothole city, a traffic jam city, a no-footpath city, a poor public infrastructure city, etc.," the forum underlines.
"If the GBA continue to ignore the taxpayers' request on basic public infrastructure, we request you to order the GBA not to collect property tax from us. Give us good public infrastructure and then collect taxes," the forum reiterated.
"We wish to bring this to your notice that, the citizens and taxpayers, are suffering immensely along with our families and children because of Bad Civic Infrastructure planning by Municipal Authorities (BBMP, GBA) and wish to draw your kind attention to the ongoing, Half Measured, Unscientific, and poorly Coordinated Road White-Topping, and Stormwater drainage works in the Varthur Balgere-Panathur area," the forum said.
"As expected, flooding continues to occur repeatedly, like we saw recently on 10th, 11th October, one of the worst ones, mainly due to the absence of a properly connected stormwater drainage network to carry rainwater into the water bodies, such as Varthur Lake. Despite your recent visit to this locality on September 27, ignoring your instructions, the officials in the municipal bodies have yet again ignored planning and resorted to shortcuts with no action," the forum stated.
"Instead of first completing the drainage network, which is the foundation for road stability, authorities have hastily started filling potholes, white-topping works in Varthur-Balagere-Panathur. Such half-measures will only lead to rapid deterioration of the new roads, wasting public funds and taxpayer contributions. Panathur main road repair work, done recently, is already seeing water accumulation because of bad sloping," the forum pointed out.
The forum said that 'Namma Bengaluru' is the brightest jewel in our nation's crown. "We sincerely hope your decisive leadership will restore its shine through transparent, scientific, and sustainable civic planning. Bengaluru is one among the top 5 states in the entire country in terms of tax generation for contributing to the development of the country, and Bengaluru was known as a Garden City, a Silicon Valley, a retired person's paradise once upon a time," the letter concludes.
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