An unusually wet October and heavy rains over the last few days is proving to be a nightmare for residents in many outlying areas of the city, where stretches of roads dug up by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to lay new drinking water and underground drainage pipelines have not been restored. Though restoration work has begun only in one division, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is likely to take up remaining works in the 110 villages soon.
Tenders for the road restoration pertaining to a few wards in the outer zones will be finalised soon, while some have been sent to the government for clarification, said Gaurav Gupta, BBMP Chief Commissioner. Zonal commissioners and joint commissioners had been directed to monitor the progress of work, besides take up surface correction on a war footing.
The State Government had granted the BBMP ₹1,000 crore to take up road restoration works in the newly added areas.
The state of the roads in Punyabhoomi Layout, Ramamurthy Nagar ward, and Kane road at Kalkeree, in Bengaluru.
Work has already begun in Horamavu and Ramamurthy Nagar wards, coming under K.R. Puram division in Mahadevapura zone. According to Parameshwaraiah, zonal chief engineer, more than 350 km of roads in the 11 villages in K.R. Puram division and over 300 km in 31 villages in Mahadevapura division will be restored at ₹190 crore.
“Work - surface correction and some civil work - has already been taken up under 17 packages in K.R. Puram division. While nine villages come under Horamavu ward, two come under Ramamurthy Nagar ward. Road restoration is likely to be completed within 10 weeks,” he said and added that due to intermittent rains, work progress had been impacted.
In the Mahadevapura division, roads in 31 villages coming under Bellandur, Hoodi, Varthur, Hagadur, Kadugodi and Doddanekundi wards were in a poor condition. The 11 packages will be finalised in another 15 days, he added.
Residents of Horamavu and Ramamurthy Nagar are heaving a sigh of relief now that work on restoring several roads in the many localities has been taken up. Kane Road in Kalkere, Vinayaka Layout in K. Channasandra, Green Garden Main Road, Hoysalanagar and many others were crying for attention for more than two years.
Shyam Rao, founder of Residents’ Welfare Trust, said that following the rains, even walking is difficult on many roads in Hoysalanagar. “Citizens have purchased sites and constructed houses. We are only demanding basic facilities, such as good roads, drinking water and power. These areas were added to BBMP limits in 2007 and are yet to get basic amenities. What will happen to the new areas that are likely to be added when the number of wards are increased to 243?” he asked.
The main problem, apart from civic agencies passing the buck on road restoration, is that laying of the pipelines was not done in a phased manner. P. Arunagiri, president of Kanaka Sarovara Raste Nivasigala Sangha, said that though surface correction was taken up on some roads, they had not been asphalted for years.
Kochi Sankar, president of Trinity Enclave Residents’ Association, told The Hindu that Mr. Gupta and senior officials from the zone chaired two meetings with residents’ welfare associations from Mahadevapura and K.R. Puram divisions recently. “We have been struggling with poor roads since 2018. Following our meeting last week, there is some progress on ground,” he said.
