Loksatta Party members today joined residents from Sachidananda Nagara in Bangalore to demand lawful issue of khata documents to home owners by officials of the municipal corporation. In an hour-long meeting with the BBMP Commissioner, the group demanded that the chief administrative officer of the city take action against errant lower officials in the zone who were standing in the way of issuing khatas, despite a court ruling and directives from the Lokayukta.

The people's group explained to the commissioner that although the Lokayukta of Karnataka had directed the BBMP Rajarajeshwari Nagar Zone to issue khatas to site owners in Sachidananda Nagara, according to civil court order 2355/2001, the BBMP officials have been disregarding these directives. Instead, they pointed to unsolicited letters from the local MLA and other persons who wanted the officials to stop issuing khatas. Residents of the area, however, were persuaded to pay a 'facilitation fee' through their RWA to get their khatas. This has caused tremendous agony to the site owners, who decided to put an end to the harassment by taking their case directly before the commissioner and the media persons who were present.

Loksatta Party members were prominent in their support of the campaign, and pledged to support similar initiatives elsewhere in the city also, to ensure that citizens would get their due services from the government in every office. A campaign of 'Gandhi-giri' to continuously focus on incidents of maladministration would be taken up, promised party leader Dr Shankara Prasad, himself among the victims at R R Nagar.

Dr Prasad expressed happiness that the commissioner promised to resolve the issue within 48 hours, and directed the zone officials to place all relevant files before him immediately. The visitors, who had offered roses to the commissioner (after removing the thorns!) expressed optimism, and looked forward to seeing their khatas issued expeditiously. Many of the citizens attending the meeting today promised to be back, if no solution to their grievance is forthcoming.

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