A cleaner Bengaluru, now?

Bengaluru: The BMRCL has received plenty of flack over the last year about the condition of roads under the Namma Metro tracks. With very dim lighting, these areas have been reduced to dumping grounds and crime is on the increase.

Posters and bills of all kinds covered the pillars as well. Over the last two weeks, BMRCL, in collaboration with The Ugly Indian and a host of locals in and around CMH Road, have come together to clean up their neighbourhood and repaint all the metro pillars. When the campaign started, they were pleasantly surprised to find residents and even employees from nearby offices and restaurants step out to lend a hand.

The campaign, which has taken place over the last two weekends, has been so successful that BMRCL is now proposing to block traffic from the CMH Road Signal, all the way to Double Road, in an open-day of sorts to clean up the city. “We are in talks with the Traffic police about how traffic can be diverted,” said Vasanth Rao, MD, Finance, BMRCL.

We have been associating with The Ugly Indian for two years now and they knew people who could pitch in, but we want the locals to be a part of it. Change cannot be sustained unless locals take ownership of their neighbourhood,” he said.

Even hawkers who have sold their wares on CMH Road for many years, left their carts and arrived to help. “One of the hawkers is a good painter, he came up to me and asked if he could help,” said Rao. “It's very heartwarming. The Metro staff also wanted to join in, when they sensed the enthusiasm from the locals.” The plan is to replicate the model in other parts of the city, with strong involvement from locals, who can then keep an eye out to ensure that their work is not ruined or vandalised in any way.

“We could have called in artists, but public art is simply not respected here in Bengaluru," Rao added. Sustaining the work will be a challenge, said Mr Imtiaz, President, CMH Traders Association. Members of the association have been a part of the cleanup drive, said Rao.

“The pillars are being repainted, but posters and flyers will come up there in no time. It's done in the nights and the culprits are usually politicians,” Imtiaz said. “It might work better to have corporate companies maintain specific sections. Also, the locals need to be brought in for discussions so that new ideas to improve the locality can be put on the table.”

‘Pythons’ brought back to fill potholes

Ahead of city in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy’s city inspection of city roads from Thursday, the BBMP authorities are burning midnight oil to ensure that the potholes are filled, so that they don’t have to face the minister’s wrath.

It took as many as six days after the death of Stuthi Pandey, after hitting a pothole near Kadubeesanahalli, for the BBMP administration to swing into action. Besides, the two pothole filling machines (Python), which were ‘hibernating’, have also been pressed into service. They will be used near Silk Board and Madivala areas, said BBMP engineer Bala Krishna.

Another engineer said that overnight pothole filling drive have been taken up at areas like N.R. Road, Shankarmath Road, KR Road. Hot mix is being procured from Bannerghatta plant to fill potholes.

Since the vehicular movement will be less during night, they can extensively carry out pothole filling work, engineers added. In some areas citizens have taken up the initiative to monitor the pothole filling work along with the BBMP staff to ensure quality.