Bengaluru: A short distance of 1.5 km from Peenya, is the insignificantly- located Chokkasandra. Thanks to the government which extended the BBMP limits, decades-old villages became neighbours of the state’s biggest industrial hub. These villages were conveniently upgraded to ‘wards’. Despite this, the residents of these newly-formed wards do not enjoy any urban infrastructure or even basic civic amenities, in contrast to other citizens in core areas.
Even today, the residents struggle with overflowing sewage, walk over broken drains at their peril and cross roads fearfully as their ‘village’ is now a national highway. Forget footpaths and parks, the days their dry taps drip water, are the best days of the week for them.
Narrates Neela, a slum-dweller, “We survive on ‘corporation’ water and pay a nominal fee of Rs 50 for the water supply. That too is not regular and we get the supply once or twice a week.”
The lack of water supply is not restricted to these urban poor and slum-dwellers alone. Those in swanky apartments have similar complaints. Subash Shetty, a resident of Sobha Nagasandra, says the water crisis and sanitation facilities are dreadful in Chokkasandra, Nagasandra, Peenya and other areas, to the extent that even public toilets and bus stands run dry taps.
“There are caretakers sitting outside the public toilets collecting Rs 1 from each visitor. But when the toilets don’t have water and stink all through the day, why would anyone visit these toilets and risk their health? Not just these public spaces, even toilets at government offices don’t get proper water supply. Sanitation concerns have crossed the barriers of educated-uneducated, rich-poor and villagers-urban crowd,” he says.
A search for reasons that could have caused the apathy of the BBMP officials (and even the former corporator,) leads to a citizens’ welfare association member, who suggests that lack of awareness among voters is the major reason. “Most of the corporators who won the previous BBMP election in Dasarahalli constituency were once prominent villagers. Votes for money and caste helped them became corporators. While some corporators were not even aware of their roles and responsibilities, others had hidden interests. Nearly all the eight wards in this constituency lack basic amenities,” he says.
This time, however, the residents are so upset that they may want to boycott BBMP elections, threatens Subash. “It’s not difficult for our apartment residents and neighbouring apartments to stay away from elections. But we will wait and see what the candidates have to say during the campaigns, and then we will take a final call,” he says.
In a nutshell
- Dasarahalli
- Ward 39: Chokksandra
- Former corporator: M.Muniswamy
- Total voters 46,248
- Male voters 20,406
- Female voters 16,369
- Others 4
- Polling stations 40
