IT City: Paradise for potholes...and now muck!

People may still be arriving in Bengaluru in search of a good life, but it is increasingly getting out of reach for the many, who already live here, with many of its roads potholed or  dug up by various civic agencies for one reason or another. Bengalureans, who have a hard time getting their complaints heard, are now being given a new excuse for the delay in attending to them: the bypolls announced for 15 assembly  constituencies and the model conduct of conduct that accompanies them. When will the wait end for a better Bengaluru, ask Aknisree Karthik and Denzil Rithesh D’Souza

Living in Namma Bengaluru is taking its toll on people, who  travel long distances to work and are delayed on roads dug up by the various civic agencies for one reason or the other.  While some are now opting to work from home, others suffer loss of pay due to late logins and are expectedly furious with the civic agencies for making their lives miserable.

"Will the BBMP, BWSSB or BSNL compensate for the loss of pay we suffer because of the muck  they have created in the city with their lackadaisical attitude?  Will they face the music from our bosses for arriving late to work? Bengalureans are the second highest taxpayers in the country, but  the government is not accountable  to the people," said an enraged Manoj James, who travels to work in a premier educational institute in Koramangala from Ejipura every day. It takes him over an hour to cover a distance of about 2.5 km owing to  the seemingly never- ending construction of a BBMP flyover between Ejipura and Hosur. He is not alone in his suffering as many an office-goer has a similar story to tell in a city growing more unwieldy by the day.  

Whether you are in  Whitefield, Bellandur, Mahadevapura, Iblur, Gunjur, Bannerghatta Road, Mahadevpura, Balagere, Varthur, Kanakagiri, Ashwini Layout or other such areas, you are forced to deal every day with construction debris left on the roadsides, drains overflowing in rain and mosquitoes breeding in water-filled potholes . While the authorities look the other way most times, the latest excuse that has come in handy for them is the code of conduct for the soon to be held assembly bypolls. “We can’t act before they are completed,” they shrug in response to any complaint, leaving Bengalureans fuming as always.   

The "swamps" of Manjunatha Layout
Come rain and its common to see vehicles getting stuck in the "swamps" of Manjunatha Layout.  After the locals held a protest before the Horamavu BBMP office on July 20, the Mahadevpura BBMP chief engineer visited the area on July 23 , a ward meeting was held on August 3 and Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun too paid it a visit on August 5.

A citizens’ delegation later met K R Puram MP,  D V Sadananda Gowda on August 17 , and when nothing transpired, the people once again protested on August 24 . But their struggles have acheived little as the problems remain.

Residents fill potholes with tyres, saplings to warn drivers
Children have a harrowing time getting to the 10 schools  in Horamavu as the roads here are in such a terrible state that people have  filled their potholes with tyres and branches and even planted large saplings in them  to help motorists spot them.

"Dropping the children to school has become a nightmare.  There are two schools on the road between T C Palya and Horamavu and people need to wade through the muddy, slushy patch of a so- called road to get to them. The roads have no tar left as they have been dug up multiple times and filled with mud.  Three meetings have been held with the deputy commissioner concerned and several protests,but there has been no response," said Mr Arun Ramkumar, an IT professional.

Live wire kills calf  
A calf was electrocuted on Tuesday in Banjara Layout in Horamavu Agara ward where the electrical cabling is in progress.  But there are many such death traps in ward numbers 25 and 26 of the area that covers 11 villages. The people say they have been braving the cabling menace here for the last couple of years.

"The contractor laid the cable only 1 ft underground against the mandatory 3 feet. The rains of the past couple of days exposed the cable, killing a hapless calf. Tomorrow, it could be our children or us. The ordeal has been going for almost two years. The BWSSB, BESCOM, GAIL, ONGC, telecom companies, everybody seems to take our roads for granted. They just dig them and leave them", said a housewife, Preetha Raj.    

"Around 300 complaints have been filed with the BBMP helpline and there  have been nine visits by BBMP commissioners, but nothing has changed.  The present BBMP Commissioner, B. H. Anil Kumar has assured us that things will improve after the by-elections. His predecessor, Manjunath did not bother to visit our area even once," she added angrily.

Many more wet days ahead
While the rain of the last few days has exposed more of Bengaluru’s civic troubles, there’s more to come as the weathermen have predicted more showers for the city over the next few days.  From water-logged roads to overflowing drains, Bengalureans have suffered it all as the wet weather continues in the city. And with the work of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) proceeding at snail’s pace in some areas,  the lot of Bengaluru’s commuters is not going to get any better soon.

Admitting that roads in Bengaluru are not in good condition, a BBMP official blamed it on the ongoing BWSSB work and slow pace of BBMP projects like white- topping.

“At many places in the city, BWSSB has dug up roads for laying water lines or drainage pipes. Once the work is done , the roads are supposed to  be asphalted. But as the work is still incomplete in many places, the asphalting has not been done,” he explained, adding, “As the BWSSB work is for the good of people, we cannot stop it from digging the roads up. But our only request to it is to speed up the work for the convenience of commuters and pedestrians.”