The BBMP's sudden spurt of activity is a cause for celebration but the new found efficacy of the famously lackadaisical body has raised a few eyebrows. Urban experts and harried citizens alike believe this has been spurred on by the upcoming state elections and not merely good intentions for the city per se. BBMP babus have been told to complete major infrastructural works like flyovers, elevated roads, asphalting and white-topping before the model code of conduct is applicable. Is this being done so the Congress government can lay claim to them? And is our flailing city in any place to complain, asks Aknisree Karthik
Bengalureans’ tortuous wait for better roads and infrastructure could be coming to an end, at least partially, with the city seeing a sudden flurry of activity of late now that the BBMP has woken up from its slumber. Although projects are picking up pace, people are expectedly suspicious that its all in readiness for the elections to the state assembly that are merely months away.
Having badly judged the pulse of the public with its controversial steel flyover from Chalukya circle to Hebbal, the Jayamahal road widening project, a skywalk on M G Road, and other steel flyover projects, the government seems to be now trying to win its trust back by completing projects that have been pending for a while, causing the people much inconvenience.
Going by sources, babus of the BBMP have been strictly instructed to complete major infrastructural projects before the model code of conduct kicks in so the ruling Congress government can take the credit for them.
A senior BBMP official says the civic agency has been told to complete some major infrastructure projects by the end of February or the first week of March before the Election Commission announces the dates of the assembly poll.
Priority is reportedly being given to creating signal- free corridors on some stretches like the Mysore Road to Central Silk Board and Okalipuram to Soap Factory, although the civic agency is unlikely to make much progress on similar work on Old Airport Road and Old Madras Road “We will first complete the Mysore Road to Central Silk Board signal -free corridor by building the Dalmia junction flyover by the end of February followed by flyovers at the Dr Muthuraj junction, Food World Junction and Jedimara,” reveals the officer.
The first phase of the Okalipuram flyover connecting Malleswaram to the City Railway Station and Rajajinagar could be completed by the end of February too, he says.
In more good news for a dug- up and dusty city, work on remodelling Church Street, that was closed for traffic in February last year, could be completed by the end of February too if sources are to be believed. The delay in fixing the road is apparently caused by difficulty in laying the Kasuti pattern cobble stones , fixing the old sewer lines, shifting high intensity electric cables and repairing broken water pipelines and storm water drains running beneath the road. But now, if all goes well, a new look Church Street could be thrown open to the public in a few weeks.
Some of the major infrastructural projects expected to be inaugurated before the Model Code of Conduct comes into play:
Remodelling of Church Street
Remodelling of Church Street
The comprehensive development of Church Street, which was taken up under the Tendersure project at a cost of Rs 900 lakh in February 2017, was expected to be completed in six months.
After jumping several deadlines, the road is expected to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by the end of February.
Multi -level parking lot at Gandhinagar
Work on building a multi-level underground parking lot, first proposed by the BBMP in 2008, began in November, 2015.
The Rs. 79.82-crore project was handed over to the Hyderabad-based KMV Projects and the multi-level parking lot was supposed to be opened to the public by November 2017.
After jumping many deadlines officials have been instructed to inaugurate it before the election dates are
announced.
White-topping, asphalting across the city pleases politicians, worries the people
The city’s roads have been filled with potholes for years and every spell of rain makes them only worse. But things came to a head last year after the potholed roads began to take people’s lives as they met with accidents while trying to avoid them. A flustered government then got into a high gear and in October last year approved white topping of as many as 29 roads covering 93.47 kms at a cost of Rs 723.71 crore , with instructions to finish them in a record short time.
Bengalureans now had to put up with work being done simultaneously on Hosur Road, Mysore Road, in Vijay Nagar, Seshadripuram, Koramangala, Adugodi, and Banaswadi in December. And to their even greater discomfort, the BBMP got ready to begin work on another 26 busy stretches in the city like the Outer Ring Road, the Okalipuram to Leprosy Hospital stretch, Brigade Road, and Goraguntepalya junction.
But with the traffic expectedly going out of gear and leaving people stranded for hours on these roads, people began to fret and question the sudden enthusiasm of the BBMP to improve their condition without making alternative arrangements for their convenience. “How can the BBMP expect to complete so much work in a few months when it should have been spread over years ? Wasn’t it aware of how bad the roads were?” they demanded. Finally, a lot of the work was suspended in December in response to public outrage, leaving it half complete.
Besides the white topping project, the BBMP seems to have embarked on asphalting roads in other areas too on a war-footing. But if the government intended to impress the people, it could be disappointed as many believe it is doing the job only with an eye on the coming elections to the state assembly.
Says Mr Nadeem Ahmed , a resident of Anepalya, “ Some four months ago a concrete road was dug up and no one turned up to relay it for months. We had to suffer a bumper ride over the dug up road for over three months and only recently was it re-laid with concrete. Why do they take so much time to lay a road ? Was the work deliberately pushed for months so the road could be laid just before the elections? ”Residents of Wilson Garden's Chinnayyanapalya , struggling with pothole- ridden roads since 2015, were in for a surprise too recently. “All of sudden we woke up to see a major stretch of the road in the area being asphalted recently. How is it that our political representatives and babus have woken up from their deep slumber and heard our pleas of the last few years only now?" asks Ms Rekha, a resident of Chinnayyanapalya.
