Bengaluru: It was a short-lived victory for hundreds of residents of Talacauvery Layout near Old Airport Road. After nearly a decade of protest for a pucca road in their locality, the BBMP finally relented and fulfilled their demand. But within a week after asphalting, the BWSSB dug up the road for pipe laying.
“I moved to this area in 2008. There were no tarred roads back then and only after we fought for good roads, the BBMP asphalted in May. Just a week after a road was tarred, the BWSSB dug up the road to lay a pipeline for Cauvery water supply. This is very disappointing,” said Sajesh J., a local resident.
It may be recalled that to avoid such incidents and improve communication between different government agencies, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ordered setting up of co-ordination committee. Though the committee has met twice in the last one month and has adopted several measures such as appointing nodal officers from every agency, uploading the list of upcoming works on BBMP website and obtaining permissions from all the agencies before digging of roads, but there is little change in the ground situation.
Recently asphalted roads in Jayanagar 7th Block, 9th Block, Banashankari Third Stage and J.P Nagar have been dug up. Some agencies such as BWSSB and Bescom do not even have special allocations in their budget to restore the road after it is dug up. As a result, the BBMP will only have to asphalt the road again and that would take years. Sajesh said, “The agencies which take up road cutting work do not even bother to even fill them up, let alone restore it to original condition. In our area, the BWSSB had completed the works, but has left the dug up areas open. It’s dangerous for motorists and pedestrians when it rains.”
When District-in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy was asked why the committee had failed to curb road cutting, he maintained that other agencies should be equally responsible and adhere to the norms of the committee.
“Not every agency follows rules. We are trying our best to get them in line too,” he said.
