BENGALURU: Apartment dwellers secured a victory of sorts when they got a panel of politicians including K J George, Bengaluru development minister, and Dr Ashwath Narayan, BJP MLA from Malleswaram, to admit that residents of apartments were being discriminated against by the civic agency and utility services.
At a panel discussion organized by Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) in the run-up to assembly elections on Sunday, candidates from four political parties were grilled on contentious points of the BAF drafted ‘apartment residents charter’. Besides George and Narayan, the panel included Tanveer Ahmed, national spokesperson, JD(S) and Prithvi Reddy, national spokesperson, AAP.
“The reason residents in apartments are being treated differently is because it was believed five years ago that they didn’t come out and vote,” Ahmed said. “That is clearly changing.”
Apartment residents, a rapidly growing voting block — BAF represents more than two lakh voters — complained they were not being treated on par with those living in independent houses and were being penalised for no fault of theirs. Some of the complaints pertained to higher tariffs for water which apartment dwellers had to pay vis-à-vis independent houses and installation of sewage treatment plants in apartment complexes.
During the session, moderated by V Ravichander, civic evangelist, the panellists admitted apartment dwellers should be treated on par with residents in individual houses, but had different views on some issues such as Bescoms decision to bring STPs and fire pumps in apartment complexes under a higher tariff structure that is applicable to industrial and commercial establishments.
While Prithvi insisted that that the treatment of sewage should be a function of the government, and that it was simply passing the buck to citizens, Narayan said STP’s should be charged lower than the domestic tariff. Tanveer, however, said the tariff should either be scrapped or the charge be made nominal. Disagreeing with him, George said that nothing could be done for free, and suggested instead that they not be charged at industrial rates.
