Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike

The hurt ego of a contract employee ofended up with the residents of an apartment block in Victoria Layout allegedly being trapped by a garbage truck blocking their entrance and literally being held hostage for four hours on Thursday evening! Worse, the authorities concerned not only failed to come to the rescue of the residents but also refrained from addressing the issue – not the local corporator and not the BBMP commissioner who insisted that a police complaint be filed as it was a “local issue”.The drama unfolded over a trivial issue of a two-wheeler belonging to the BBMP contract employee, Babu, parked in such way that it obstructed the entry to Santosh Apartments.One of its residents, Akshay Kariyappa, who was the one affected by the bike obstructing his way, said: "As it was blocking my way I told the bike owner Babu, who claimed to work in BBMP's health department, to remove it so that I could enter the apartments. He refused and remained adamant stating that the road belonged to the BBMP and he had the right to park.However, Babu's friends moved the bike and I went in and parked my vehicle. When I was coming out Babu stopped me and started abusing me for having hurt his ego. He used all expletives and threatened to dump garbage in front of the apartment. I ignored him and left.”Babu reportedly returned thrice in the night to shout at the residents.It didn’t stop at that. The situation went out of hand on Thursday evening when Babu returned with a garbage truck and parked it right in front of the entrance of the apartment. He told the residents: "I will not remove the truck till an apology is tendered to me.”The hapless residents, who could neither exit the premises nor enter it, called up the local politicians including the outgoing corporator to intervene.But the latter reportedly washed their hands off the issue. They instead allegedly advised the residents not to take on Babu who is capable of garnering votes from nearby slums.The residents alerted the police too. But another resident said: “These guys (Babu and company) were threatening to slap atrocity cases against us if we dared to initiate legal action against them.” Interestingly, when Bangalore Mirror visited the spot and spoke to Babu, he initially maintained that vehicle had suffered a breakdown. But when asked why he had not summoned mechanics to repair it, he said: “Yes, I have purposefully parked the vehicle here. I will not move it till an apology is tendered to me.”He finally removed the truck only at around 8 pm when he realised that the residents had gone ahead and alerted the cops despite his threats to slap cases of atrocities against the residents if they did so.Residents said the issue could have been easily sorted out through talks on Wednesday evening itself. “But bringing a huge garbage truck and parking it in front of the apartment is definitely not the right way. This is misuse of government machinery. Hope the civic chiefs take note of this kind of harassment.”Shockingly, when Bangalore Mirror brought it to the notice of BBMP commissioner G Kumar Naik, his reply was: “The residents have to file a police complaint if he is creating nuisance.”But when pointed out that it was a BBMP garbage truck, he dismissed it stating: “It is a local issue.”