Citizens’ voice in Palike budget: Need better toilets, footpaths

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Janaagraha, an NGO, launched #MyCityMyBudget — a campaign for citizens’ participation in the BBMP budget 2021-22 — on Tuesday. Palike Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad had invited inputs from citizens and organisations on how the budget can be improved and what needs to be included and omitted. 

He said, “Many have demanded better public toilets and footpaths. Hence, we have asked them to provide details and it will be incorporated in the next budget.” He added, “In 2017-18, we received 22,000 suggestions which helped us a great deal. This year, while preparing the budget, we want to have special focus on public toilets and pedestrian-friendly footpaths.

We hope to put an end to public urination with well-maintained public toilets. Let us work together with the funds we have and build toilets that every citizen can use and fix all the roads so that people can enjoy our city and its beautiful weather.”Janaagraha civic participation head Srinivas Alavilli said the ‘yellow spots’ (public urination spots) are literally a blot on Bengaluru’s image. “Public urination cannot be stopped until it becomes a people’s movement. We invite all civic organisations to be part of this and also fix our footpaths this year, without fail,” he added. 

“Bengaluru has several infrastructure issues. The BBMP and Janaagraha are working together to solve these and improve the quality of life,” said Janaagrahacivic participation head Sapna Karim.“The campaign is live for a month and focuses on improving public toilets and repairing footpaths. As citizens, we can participate by identifying yellow spots, unusable public toilets and bad footpaths. Once identified, we can ensure they get into the plan of action. Research shows that public urination is connected to lack of public toilets or unhygienic public toilets,” she added.