Ashwini M Sripad By Express News Service BENGALURU: Traffic, garbage disposal, better road infrastructure and drinking water are the major problem areas before the four ministers from Bengaluru who were sworn in on Tuesday. While S Suresh Kumar and V Somanna started their political careers as Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike councillors, R Ashok has worked as a district-in-charge minister in BSY’s previous tenure, and Dr CN Ashwathnarayan is known for his awareness on urban issues. Three of the four have worked as ministers previously. When BS Yediyurappa was CM from 2008-2011, many developments works, including developing outer ring roads, signal-free corridors, bus day to popularise BMTC, and laying of gas pipelines, were carried out. This apart, the government also completed doubling of the Bangalore-Ramanagar rail route. Suresh Kumar said all four of them have sufficient experience regarding Bengaluru, and can together focus on bringing about long-term solutions. Another issue to tackle, Suresh Kumar pointed out, is air pollution from vehicular movement. “A major issue is the health hazards caused from vehicular pollution. Bengaluru has bottleneck points at many junctions, where vehicles take long to pass. These points will be identified with the help of BBMP and Bengaluru Traffic Police,” he added. Somanna said he will be focusing on providing better water supply to the city. “This has been my concern since 1996. We have to move ahead and match international standards,’’ he said. Somanna, who was Housing Minister in BSY’s government previously, said that during his tenure then, as many as 54 slums were developed. “Bengaluru has 300 more slums that need to be developed. I would like to see a slum-free Bengaluru — our government is committed,’’ he added. In 2008, BJP government had two district-in-charge ministers for Bengaluru - R Ashok and Katta Subramanya Naidu. Later, Naidu was disqualified, and Ashok handled Bengaluru. This time, according to BJP sources, Ashok is eyeing the PWD or Revenue posts, with Bengaluru Development portfolio likely to remain with the CM.

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