After DKS remarks, BNP says apartment residents’ anger stems from years of govt. inaction

After Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that there was no need to “threaten” him, the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) on Monday said residents’ anger was a natural outcome of years of government inaction on basic issues affecting people living in apartment complexes. 

Mr. Shivakumar made the remarks during a recent interaction with members of the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), when he read out a letter that “cautioned” him about the continued neglect of their issues. Responding to the letter, Mr. Shivakumar said that such language reflected a lack of basic common sense and argued that if he were indifferent to people’s problems, he would not have invited them or sought their suggestions. 

Responding to this, the party said such expressions of frustration were inevitable when repeated appeals to the government fail to bring any relief. The party argued that apartment residents have been flagging the same problems for several years, but their concerns have largely been ignored. 

Srikanth Narasimhan, founder and general secretary of BNP and also the founder of the BAF, said BNP had been raising issues related to the basic needs of apartment residents for the past three years, without any response from either the government or the Deputy Chief Minister. These were not minor administrative inconveniences, he said, but systemic problems that place unfair financial and logistical burdens on a large section of Bengaluru’s population. The government, he added, must first demonstrate its commitment to good governance by resolving these basic issues before seeking votes from residents. 

BNP said it had repeatedly represented these matters to politicians and bureaucrats and has met several of them, including the Deputy Chief Minister on multiple occasions. Among the key grievances highlighted by the party is what it described as a discriminatory water tariff, under which apartment residents are charged three to five times more than individual house owners despite consuming similar quantities of water. The party also flagged what it termed an unfair solid waste management user fee, which it said has resulted in double charging of residents who manage their own waste.  

BNP further alleged that apartment owners have received illegal property tax show-cause and demand notices for parking slots that they do not even own. Another major issue raised was the high cost imposed on residents for converting properties from B-Khata to A-Khata, which the party said arose from past collusion between builders and politicians. 

In addition to these, BNP said several fundamental issues remain unresolved, including delays in implementing the apartment Act, improper implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), and continuing problems related to mutation and transfer of property ownership. The party said unless these issues are addressed, dissatisfaction among apartment residents is likely to continue.