Bengaluru: Potholed roads, broken footpaths, clogged drains, overflowing manholes and leaking water pipes … for residents of Veeranapalya Main Road in Nagawara this is a grim everyday reality. Their numerous efforts to raise the issues with civic officials, local politicians and even the city in-charge minister have only elicited false assurances.
The residents of Veeranapalya Main Road, Nagawara, are going through a civic nightmare, thanks to shoddy infrastructure and the authorities have turned a blind eye.
Rains wash away tar and flood clogged drains, manholes overflow, drinking water pipes leak and footpaths are broken. All this is due to poor execution of civic works.
"We have been shouting out for six months about the state of Veeranapalya Road. There is garbage, potholes, debris on open drains, which cause flooding. There are three schools here and it is very dangerous for children. There are half covered footpath slabs, which means pedestrians can't use the pavement," said Deepa, a resident. Not surprisingly two-wheeler accidents due to skidding are quite frequent in this area.
“They did some shoddy patchwork which wore off. We had brought this to the notice of Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, when he came for an inspection, registered a complaint on BBMP Sahaya, informed the Corporator, Engineers and even sent photos to special duty officer," said an exasperated Deepa. Howver, none of the officials addressed their grievances and BBMP Sahaya has closed down the complaint, stating it has been resolved.
Veeranapalya Resident Welfare Assosciation Vice President Miskin said, “We have run from pillar to post, only to run into red tape, with BBMP, BWSSB and BDA officials passing the buck. After protests and media coverage, a semblance of road work started two years ago."
Miskin said this was done after a 10-year long period of negligence, and it was far from satisfactory.
“They dug up roads and stopped the repair work midway for no reason. We individually paid for Cauvery water this January, but are yet to receive it. The water pipe line leaks and we brought it to the notice of the authorities, but to no avail. Hence gallons of water is getting wasted, while the city is facing a shortage," he added. The RWA members took to Twitter and raised these issues with Mr George, city mayor, BBMP Commissioner and local officials, but they only gave false assurances.
Incidentally, the road provides a crucial link to Manyata Tech Park and other offices on Outer Ring Road and witnesses heavy traffic.
‘Will start concreting road soon’
Interview with Corporator Irshad Begum, Nagavara Ward
Why is the Veeranapalya Main Road in such a bad state?
The contractor who fixed the Cauvery line did a bad job causing leakages. The drain water from storm water drain of Sultanapalya flows into our ward, as there is a slope leading to the railway track's level crossing, causing stagnation. There is a lot of silt causing blocks in BWSSB pipes as well causing contamination. The tar gets washed away when we do patchwork.
Residents have complained about these issues...
The PWD and BWSSB work is going on for desilting overflowing manholes and fixing Cauvery pipe connection leakages. Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George inspected the area recently and requested the DRM of South Western Railways to redo the design of the sloping level crossing. These works are being attended to first.
What will be done about the road?
All the paper work is done. We have sanctioned the tender, written to the traffic police to block the traffic for 15 days, so we can do the road work. We are awaiting funds from the Nagarottana Scheme as this falls under Major Roads. There needs to be a permanent solution to potholes and not just patch work. In three weeks, we will begin road work with white topping and it will be completed soon.
