Staff deputed to survey, Greater Bengaluru Authority finds it tough to attend to emergencies

BENGALURU: With over 18,000 staffers, including those on emergency duty, like the Forest Cell under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), being deputed for the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey or the caste survey, services during rain-related emergencies have been impacted severely. As complaints of trees and branches falling reach the control room and senior officials, attending to these emergencies has become a big challenge. An official said that only 18 employees serve in the GBA Forest Cell and nearly all of them have been assigned to survey duty from morning till evening. They are working 10-15 km from their stations and summoning and deploying them to remove fallen trees and branches has become difficult over the last eight days. Apart from the work of removing trees and branches being affected, tasks such as collecting public applications to inspect and remove hazardous trees, and making site visits with range forest officers (RFOs) too have been impacted. The Tree Expert Committee meeting, expected to be attended by the assistant conservator of forest, RFOs and other staff on October 14, to discuss pending files, trees that need to be axed, and other issues, will be delayed due to the ongoing survey work. A senior staff member from the GBA Control Room said engineers engaged in the annual maintenance work, like clearing silt from side drains, too have not been able to perform their duties as they are busy with the survey, which will conclude on October 19. There was already a concern as BBMP engineers had been deployed to multiple corporations under GBA, and responding to the public by directing officials concerned to attend to complaints was a challenge. Now with even the available staff diverted for the survey, finding engineers and alerting them to rush to the spot to address flooding and waterlogging is much more challenging and stressful, said a senior GBA official.