A small, winding road in J.C. Nagar has become a bone of contention between residents of the locality and the Parachute Regiment Training Centre (PRTC) after defence personnel destroyed the asphalted road on Monday.
Scores of PRTC personnel descended on the road connecting Modi Garden to Dinnur Main Road, and amidst heavy protection — even soldiers with guns were deployed — an earthmover was used to cover the asphalted stretch with gravel and rock. This meant over 200 houses at Modi Garden were virtually cut off from the rest of the city and the main road for the congested areas of Banagiri Nagar, Indirapuram, Sujana Nagar and parts of D.J. Halli blocked.
The root of the conflict is in far-off Uri, Jammu and Kashmi, where terrorists killed 19 soldiers at the Army camp on September 18. “As a safety measure, PRTC closed off the road through their campus that we were using. They had told us it would be a temporary measure, and we were forced to use a mud road that skirts the campus,” said Prem Nandan Singh, a resident of the area.
The diversion meant residents had to traverse an additional 3 km on a bad road. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike eventually started laying a fresh coat of asphalt on the road, but defence personnel blocked the road-laying machinery when the works were halfway through. On Saturday, residents even staged a protest against this.
At present, the locals have just a small track — wide enough for a two-wheeler to pass through — connecting their area to Kavalbyrasandra.
“It was only after a High Court order in 2013 that PRTC opened the road within their campus to us. It was proved in court it was a public road. They, however, closed it a few months ago and are not even allowing the development of the road. School buses, autos and cars can’t enter the area,” said A.R. Suresh, general secretary of the Modi Garden Residents’ Welfare Association.
Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V. Shankar and local elected representatives arrived on Monday to defuse the situation. “It was agreed that PRTC would remove the gravel and rocks from the road and give space for creation of drains and installation of streetlights. Asphalting will commence only after approval from the Defence Ministry,” said Mayro G. Padmavathi.
A defence spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
