The Silk Board junction, one of the most busiest intersections in India, might soon lose the infamous tag.
On June 21, the first step was taken to end the traffic nightmarish section of Outer Ring Road and Hosur Road. Today, vehicle users have to wait for up to 45 minutes sometimes just to cross the signal junction.
Renaatus Projects is given the tender by The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to build 2.8 kilometre flyover over the existing flyover. The Rs 134-crore project will greatly help commuters from HSR Layout, BTM Layout and Electronic City.
Estimated to be completed in 2022, this junction will also have two Metro lines passing through it: Bommasandra-RV Road and Silk Board-KR Puram-Airport.
On a recent visit to Agara Lake by Santosh Hegde, the former Karnataka Lokayukta and head of the Lake Development Plan set up by the National Green Tribunal, he was exposed to the BWSSB’s lies. When he spotted sewage flowing in the stormwater drain abutting the lake, BWSSB officials admitted that the sewage treatment plant (STP) did not have a provision to let only treated water into the drain and lake. If this continues, the stink will be similar to the one that the residents are suffering from in the neighbouring Kudlu area due to the unscientific management of the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC).
Hegde was appalled by the “shoddy work” of the BWSSB and the massive drain in public money. He questioned how an STP can be built without a provision for treating water. He has written about BWSSB’s lies to the NGT, so that the top court can take action on this civic agency.
“All those who were claiming victory on STP should know the fact that due to their hasty, unscientific and lack of understanding the lake system, it has lead to a disaster in our locality,” says resident and lake activist Kavitha Reddy. “Some of us opposed STP inside the Agara Lake as it was against the very Lake system, but a few residents went to court forcing back the STP. Some of us who were against the STP inside the lake withdraw the plea when the Lake Development Authority (LDA) promised that the land inside the lake will not be given as it’s against the NGT rules.”
BWSSB’s lies don’t stop there. According to those in the know, the civic agency converted an earlier 2MLD Membrane Tech plant into a 35MLD ordinary treatment plant. “They also lied to NGT that they will give some water to Agara Lake but never made a provision for it!” says Reddy. “This is a lesson to the few people who make claims on STP victory when it’s evident that they has done injustice not only to the lake but also to the locality that has to bear the stink of 35MLD sewage treatment plant!”
In a letter to Hegde, the Agara Lake Protection & Management Society (ALPMS) has asked them to take up the following issues on priority:
Rajakaluve on 14th Main: BBMP has not de-silted or cleaned the Rajakaluve, due to which both the inlet and outlets of the Agara Lake are blocked. During heavy rains due to the blockage, the water flows back into the lake from the outlet
Caving inn of Walking Track: Between Gate 1 and Gate 4 due to leakage in BWSSB underground drainage line, part of the jogging track in Agara Lake premises collapsed. Though fixed later, it still poses a danger to the lake and the visitors as the BWSSB has not owned up the issue which the residents believe is due to the failures of the Jakkasandra pumping station of BWSSB.
Pending connection of the raw sewage line to manhole by BWSSB: BWSSB had agreed to complete the raw sewage line that opens near the lake inlet and goes till the manhole a few meters away. But it’s been pending for over 18 months, leading to sewage entering the inlet along with the rainwater.
BWSSB STP: After this citizen group objected to the massive STP inside Agara Lake (replacing the Wetlands) highlighting that the lake’s rainwater has always been a source of good quantity water, LDA gave the lake land outside the lake on the other side of the road. Initially BWSSB was planning only a 2MLD Membrane Technology Plant. Now it is upgraded to 35MLD claiming that the treated water will be provided to Agara Lake. But the STP’s detailed project report (DPR) has no provision to let the treated water into the lake. When the lake land was taken by the BWSSB that claimed to treat the water (which is 0.5MLD evaporation) that will be provided to Agara Lake, letting the treated water directly into the same Rajakaluve that is carrying raw waste water defeats the purpose of the STP that is built using public money.
Funding for maintenance: Agara Lake needs good maintenance and the funds allocated to LDA has to be transferred to Forest Dept who are responsible for the maintenance of the lake now.
Traffic on 22nd Cross (HSR Club Road) is being rerouted as one stretch of it is blocked for traffic from Kodak Express junction to Kadal Da Meen junction. You will have to take the cross roads to reach the other side of 22nd Cross.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken up the long-pending stormwater drain work at the 18th Main-22nd Cross junction near Kadal Da Meen restaurant. Pipeline laying work is in progress. Considering that it’s a major road, the BBMP officials told Residents Watch that they will do everything possible to finish the work within a week to avoid further inconvenience to the public and vehicle users.
When the going is tough, the tough get going. And that’s what has precisely happened last weekend from Vibgyor school to Somasandrapalya Main Road. When the BBMP turned a blind eye to the gaping potholes on this stretch, the residents pooled in the money to fill them up with their own funds.
Says Vilas Deshmukh of Harluru Somasandrapalya Residents Welfare Association: “This is a public-funded pothole filling project with major contributions coming from Navayuga, a small-scale construction firm whose proprietors – Nagarjuna and Narasimha – are residents of this area. The rest of the monies came from the volunteers of our road group.”
The residents spent around Rs 25,000 to fix the roads last week in addition to sweating it all out while the work was being executed. “The work is still pending and we will continue on the coming Saturday as we need to complete it right up to Chinmaya school. So far, we completed from Vibgyor school to ND Oliva apartment complex.”
‘Corporator was of no help’
When the residents approached HSR Layout corporator (Ward 174) Gurumurthy Reddy, he was of no help to them. “The potholes were in this state for the last eight months and only getting worse whenever it rained, causing many issues to school kids, office goers and the elderly,” says Vilas. “But our request to the authorities and the local corporator went unheard.”
About 20 volunteers managed the work from 10 pm on Saturday night (June 8) till 4 am on Sunday morning, including the diversion and management of traffic to protect the concrete filling. The residents involved included Ramakrishna Reddy, Rajesh, Srinivas Rajesh, Prasad, Durga, Kunal, Subbu, and many kids, among others.
Will this act shame the authorities and prompt them to do a thorough job of fixing all the potholes in the HSR ward remains to be seen.
Congestion is going to continue on 24th Main Road for the next fortnight as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is laying a pipeline from Lotus Hospital to KPTCL junction.
While the pipeline is now laid from Lotus Hospital to KPTCL junction, the levelling of the road is only pending now. BWSSB officials informed us that the asphalting work of the dug up stretch will take up two weeks to complete.
What is throwing a spanner in the works are the rains. The work was supposed to have finished by now but for the rain gods. Expect traffic jams during peak hours, particularly in front of Purva Fairmont on 24th Main and at the KPTCL junction. It’s best to avoid that area between 6pm and 9pm as we come across jams around this time.
In the last few months, there is some tussle between the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) and the garbage contractors. KCDC is refusing to take leachette alongwith the garbage that is given to it. It’s contention is that it is commercial waste being given to them when the truth, according to BBMP officials, is that it is very much residential waste. KCDC still wants the contractors to reduce the leachette at source before handing over the wet waste to them. However, the garbage contractors feel that it’s practically impossible to do so, particularly when it rains.
“Since the rains are here; the leachette is more due to the water percolating into the waste bins kept outside for collection,” said one BBMP official. “We have been convincing the KCDC officials that it is indeed residential waste and leachette is part and parcel of it.”
Earlier, lorries used to deposit waste at KCDC. Now, that process is streamlined to avoid any outside waste from entering the premises. Only domestic vehicles are now being used to usher in more transparency and accountability.
In addition, one tonne of daily waste is being composted by the lane composters installed at ten locations across HSR Layout and at the Swachagraha Kalika Kendra. That’s equivalent to composting wet waste from over 200 households. In addition, several residents have opted for home composting, further reducing the waste generation from HSR Layout.
The garbage contractors feel that some days, KCDC accepts the waste and on other days, it rejects or raises doubts. “There is no end to their suspicions. When we do really good work, they suspect our motives, and when others do really bad work, they think it’s allright,” said one garbage supervisor.
For now, the intake at KCDC has also come down from 150 tonnes to 60 tonnes due to mounting pressure from the public and the elected representatives. Wet waste is only collected from all the wards of Bommanahalli assembly constituency and two wards of BTM Layout constituency.
According to BBMP officials, the waste from seven wards of South Bangalore constituency is sent to another composting plant in Chikkanagamangala that processes 100-150 tonnes of waste every day. For all these reasons, the situation at KCDC has stabilised now. “We have no problems with KCDC after holding a few talks on this matter,” said one garbage supevisor. “However, the KCDC has not stopped questioning us even if there is a little more leachette than usual. We have to keep telling them that it’s the rains.”
Following the statement to us by BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad that the basement shops will be shutdown after May 23, it is now learnt that the BBMP is getting ready for this massive operation. As it requires a systematic way of conducting the operation without fear or favour, there needs to be some amount of planning. For this project, political will is not an issue as the action is ordered by the Karnataka High Court.
Enough time has already been given – more than three months – for all the shops to relocate from the basements. Ofcourse, there are many new shops coming up in the basements as the landlords are openly sceptical about BBMP’s real motives. However, they fail to see that they are violating a 1976 law. The real sufferers will be all those new tenants in basements, and here is where their ignorance will lead to financial losses.
Speaking to Residents Watch, Dr A Soujanya, Joint Commissioner, Bommanahalli, said: “We will begin the basement shutdowns soon. We have just resumed our work after the elections. We will have a meeting, prepare the time table and chalk out our next steps.”
All the grace time to basement shop owners is about to get over. After the results of the general elections are out on May 23, the basement shop demolitions will resume.
Talking to Residents Watch, BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad said, “We have shutdown many basement shops in Bengaluru and will continue our drive after the elections results are out.”
HSR BBMP officials echoed the same facts and said that the elections had put a spanner in the works. In addition, the shopkeepers had asked for more time to look for alternative places. When the BBMP announced that grace time was being given for the shopkeepers to shift, many assumed that the pause was permanent and have still not shifted. What’s more, many new basement shops have come up in HSR Layout. All such new establishments who violated the law will incur the most losses as all their fresh investments will come to nought.
BBMP has decided not to issue any notices before the shutdowns and demolitions. Since the parking areas are only meant for parking and no commercial activity is permitted in building basements, any construction for any other purpose is illegal, according to the Karnataka Municipal Act of 1976.
However, the lax implementation of this four-decade-old rule prompted the Karnataka High Court to come down heavily on the BBMP, which has prompted the civic agency to act. If the BBMP does not implement the rule due to the powers-that-be, it could land in serious trouble. Therefore, no matter who owns or runs a commercial establishment in a building basement, they will have to bow down before the law.
There’s sewage in storm water drains of HSR Layout. Who is to blame? The BWSSB, the BBMP or the residents letting sewage into the drains that are supposed to only carry rainwater into the drains? The fact is that everyone is to be blamed for this. In addition, the desilting is done in a haphazard non-systematic manner. The debris cleared is left to dry. When there is another spell of rain, the debris is back into the drains, nullifying the previous effort to desilt the drains. When will the BBMP get its act together? Here is a video of one such drain in HSR Layout to give you an idea.
“We have been emphasizing this point on several occasions to the civic authorities but to no avail,” says resident RS Hiremath. “There is a large scale racket by the authorities who are allowing huge PGs and apartment blocks to simply let their sewage into storm water drains! The result is more mosquitoes, vector spread diseases, ground water contamination and stink, all at the cost of honest tax payers.”
The BBMP officials blame the BWSSB for not conducting due diligence of all the new properties that have come up in HSR Layout. “When people dig borewells, they don’t take Cauvery connection. In such cases, they illegally let the sewage into the stormwater drains,” said one BBMP official. “Usually, when anyone takes a water connection, they have to take sanitary connection also from the BWSSB.” However, the BWSSB is failing to keep a check on who has taken a sanitary connection and who has not. Since they have a readymade list, it’s easy to detect who is letting the sewage into the drains. Sources tell us that the BWSSB is to be blamed for the mess. It is the job of the inspectors to go through the lists, penalise the residents and ensure compliance.
There are stiff fines from both the BBMP and BWSSB on people who are letting sewage into the drains. If you know someone who is doing this, you can report to the BWSSB or the BBMP with a video or photographic proof.
Yesterday’s continuous rains have wrecked havoc in HSR Layout, leading to several residents suffering power breakdowns. This has led to water shortage too as the sump and borewell motors need electricity to transport water to the overhead tank. With BWSSB’s schedule being erratic, the residents were far more inconvenienced as they were getting Cauvery water but there was no electricity to send that supply to the storage tank.
According to Bescom officials, over a hundred complaints were registered overnight. Strong winds led to many tree falls and pole collapses across HSR Layout. This has led to outages across the neighbourhood, causing much agony to the residents. These pictures will convey the story better than any words would.
Bescom officials are doing their rounds of the neighbourhood to fix the faults. In other places, there was sparking in the transformers that had tripped the MCB’s. After fixing the sparking, the power is now back in several homes.
While Bescom officials claim that they have begun trimming the trees, fixing the leaning poles and errant transformers to be monsoon-ready, much more needs to be done to avoid the entire neighbourhood going dark for over 18 hours, like it happened in several parts of HSR Layout, including Sector 3, since 5pm yesterday.
Dry leaves on roads and footpaths are being swept on different days for different areas in HSR layout. Here is how it works, according to garbage supervisor for BBMP, Anil Benni: “It’s once a week for every road in HSR Layout,” he says. “The entire sweepers team is divided into two groups. They work five days a week between 10 am and 2 pm.
The areas covered are as follows for different days of the week:
Mondays = 6th sector & Freedom school area of 4th sector.
Tuesdays: 7th Sector Adigas backside, Guntoop, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar & NH Narayana hospital area in Sector 3.
Wednesdays & Sundays: The sweepers work half the day where they sweep all the main roads across all sectors up to 10am.
Thursdays: Parts of 7th sector & 3rd sector near Twin parks area.
Friday’s: Parts of 7th sector & 3rd sector near HSR Club.
Saturdays: 6th sector BBMP, Lawrence school backside, and right until 5th Main & 4th Sector Muneswara temple & Samarthanam school area.
If the debris is not being cleared for more than a week, you can call the following garbage supervisors to address the issue.
An unswept road on 15th B Main in Sector 3
In addition, if garbage collection is not proper in your area or road, these are the people who can address your issue. And remember, dry waste is picked every Saturday and Wednesday while wet/kitchen waste is on other days in Sectors 1, 3,4,5,6,7. For Sector 2, the dry and wet waste is collected together.
