Subheadline: Minister Krishna Byre Gowda directs officials to address waste, encroachments, potholes and stormwater-drain maintenance across several neighbourhoods.
Bengaluru | September 6, 2026
Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has directed civic officials to take immediate action on waste collection, encroachments, potholes, footpaths and stormwater drains after conducting an early-morning surprise inspection across parts of the city on Saturday.
The inspection covered Horamavu, Banjara Layout, Agara Lake, Ramamurthy Nagar and Kasturinagar. Gowda reviewed door-to-door garbage collection, lake and drain maintenance, footpath conditions, road potholes and road cuts, as well as ongoing railway and metro works, according to a report by Deccan Herald.
Officials were instructed to ensure daily waste collection, remove construction debris and clear footpath encroachments. The minister also directed them to repair potholes and road cuts and to carry out regular desilting of stormwater drains. The directions followed the inspection of civic conditions in the neighbourhoods visited.
At Agara Lake, Gowda ordered the immediate removal of accumulated waste and directed officials to take action against encroachments. He also instructed authorities to relocate Bescom transformers located outside the lake premises. The directions place waste removal, lake upkeep and utility infrastructure within the immediate set of tasks identified during the inspection.
The minister also addressed concerns raised by pourakarmikas, or civic sanitation workers, seeking regularisation. Gowda said around 30% of pourakarmikas were not reporting for duty and questioned how workers who did not attend work could be made permanent.
“How can we make those who don’t come to work permanent?” Gowda said, while stressing that regularisation could not come at the cost of accountability. He warned that pourakarmikas who remained absent for prolonged periods could face dismissal from service.
The remarks link the regularisation issue to attendance and service delivery. The inspection also brought together several routine civic functions that directly affect neighbourhood conditions, including household waste collection, drain maintenance, road repairs, footpath access and the management of lake premises.
The minister’s directions included both immediate clean-up measures and action against specific problems identified during the visit. These included accumulated waste at Agara Lake, encroachments on lake and footpath areas, construction debris, potholes, road cuts and the placement of Bescom transformers outside the lake premises.
The report did not specify a deadline for completing each of the directions or identify the number of workers who could face disciplinary action. It also did not provide further details on the proposed regularisation process. The next steps are for civic officials to implement the orders on daily waste collection, site clean-up, road and drain maintenance, encroachment removal and transformer relocation.
