RW Feb 2018 Wrap: Road cutting, potholes, encroachments, demolitions & more

Road cutting stopped by residents
Vigilant residents are the need of the hour, when civic agencies fail to do their duty. Recently, residents saw indiscriminate road cutting at three places on 24th Main. When they asked for approvals, the workers had none and continued to dig. Eventually, the contractor came on line and said that they were given the work by BESCOM on some central government project called ‘Automatic switching or IPDS’. The BBMP assistant executive engineer (AEE) Ananth Raju was called and the road digging was stopped. Later, the work resumed because they indeed had the permission to do it. Later, more than a dozen pits were dug on 24th Main, creating a traffic mess. And they never ended up topping it with bitumen. What’s worse, there are still some open pits with wires hanging out in gay abandon. Whether it’s a private or government agency, this rule of concretising the road within a few days should be enforced without mercy.

Call Raju to stop illegalities
This year, HSR Layout has a new assistant executive engineer. After his predecessor Venkatesh was booted out by no less than chief minister Siddaramaiah for dereliction of duty, Ananth Raju has filled in his shoes. If you have any issue with road and footpath encroachments or desilting of drains or illegal buildings, he is the man to get in touch with. His number is 94485-43601. Welcome, Ananth Raju. Your hands are full.

Overflowing Cauvery water?
We get many such complaints from residents in our Telegram group from residents. They see that the precious Cauvery water is overflowing but they don’t know whom to call. So here is the number that you can call: 1916. And please circulate messages like these on social media.

Potholes are back

This huge pothole on 22nd Cross in Sector 3 is back-breaking. So are the many potholes, big and small on 23rd Cross in Sector 7. Will BBMP engineer Ananth Raju fix these permanently please? HSR has a dubious history with roads. The best roads are re-asphalted and the worst roads are left to fend for themselves. When Residents Watch alerted the CM about it more than two years ago, his office promised to take action. Nothing has happened since. In June last year, the 7th Cross Road in Sector 1 was asphalted for the second time in less than three months. “And the tragedy is that many roads are not asphalted for the last 10 years. If this is not corruption, then what is?” asks resident Kavitha Reddy. Agrees resident Shivaraj: “That’s true. In Sector 7, the 11th main, 24th cross road surrounding the BDA park have not been touched despite complaints of innumerable potholes in the last three years.”

Shape up, BBMP
The BBMP has to find a proper secondary collection point that is right now adjacent to the Outer Ring Road in front of Freedom International School. “As per the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the Lake Development Authority (LDA) rules, the BBMP cannot have a garbage point in the vicinity of any lake, as the storm water drain is getting choked and polluted,” says resident Kavitha Reddy. “The mini forest being maintained by my NGO has to be cleaned up often as garbage is getting dumped around it. I have made several requests to shift the secondary collection point. On one side, there’s KCDC and on the other, a secondary collection point. We are choked with stink from both ends. It’s high time the secondary collection point is better planned. More waste is gathering or thrown at the point. Some of it is not even HSR waste.” Agrees resident Lalithamba BV: “Since it is on outer ring road, it is a vulnerable point. Any one travelling by can throw stuff. It stinks most of the time. Not a good sign to have such points on main roads, next to schools, parks or lakes.”

‘Stop encroachment in name of god’

In one case involving one religious trust that had built a temple on government land, the High Court has said that encroachment in the name of god should stop. HSR Layout is the best example of this. Barring Subramanya temple, all other temples are encroachments. Even Subramanya temple has two illegal floors. Such is the state of affairs in HSR and this has the full backing of our local netas, MP Kupendra Reddy and MLA Satish Reddy. The Sai Baba temple in a median park of Sector 3 is another glaring example. Recently, they tried to extend the temple, but the plan was shelved when residents protested in the Residents Watch group. However, the back entrance that was fenced earlier has now been opened for priests and food items to make a rear entry. The tiles that were lined in the median park have been removed. MLA Satish Reddy promised a herbal garden here but nothing has happened so far. “We are all familiar with such things in HSR,” says resident RS Murthy. Adds Kamesh Rastogi: “In the name of god, they feel no one will question them, leading to rampant encroachment all around. The authorities don’t support or help the residents on this when it’s reported to them.” Another resident Ravi MR says, “When people throng to such temples and offer money to it, it is an encouragement to such culprits.”

‘Kill Bills’ goes citywide
The ‘Kill Bills’ campaign begun by HSR’s Hasiru Mithra group has spread across the city. The resident group removed posters, bills, flex banners and stickers defacing the neighbourhood on innumerable occasions. This inspired the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) and they, under the leadership of Shilpa Narayanan, took it across the city. Last year, the HSR team met the BBMP Mayor who committed to conducting weekly drives to remove the bills. But the banner politics continues. We even saw the picture of Kavitha Reddy, the person behind the ‘Kill Bills’ campaign, in some of the posters erected recently. When questioned, she says, “I am against flex banners and don’t want my photo, but they have to use it because of protocol. I have no control over it. I sincerely hope Bengaluru says ‘no’ to these ugly posters, banners, flex, bills, stickers, and end the competitive banner politics played at the cost of the city.” We would suggest that the cops prosecute the people whose pictures are shown in the hoardings. This is the only way to usher in accountability. The Election Commission needs another Seshan and BBMP needs another Jairaj to eradicate this visual pollution.

Residents oppose smokers’s haven
Sector 3 has one Friend’s Bakery on 25th Cross. Situated next to residential houses, it has become a smokers’ haven even though smoking in public isn’t allowed. Health inspector Vinod has fined Rs 5000 on the outlet owner, but to no avail. Says resident Ravi MR: “There are more smokers than before. How can BBMP give license to sell cigarettes in the vicinity of a school? Very sad state of affairs within BBMP. There is a small board that prohibits smoking but serves no purpose to the smokers. The entire stretch of the road is used by smokers to park their vehicles haphazardly. It is a nuisance to pedestrians. How can the bakery owner and building owner be so bold and fearless?” And this smoking ban should apply to all the shops in Parangipalya, Agara and 24th Main too. Vinod, your hands are full with just this job at hand.

Aadhaar alert
Don’t ever reveal your OTP to people asking for your Aadhaar bank details. Refrain from giving away the OTP you receive to link your Aadhaar ID to bank accounts and so on. No cellular service provider or bank calls up customers for the OTP, except fraudsters.

The curious case of two bus stops
Resident Lalithamba BV is miffed that the feeder buses that made an entry and promptly exited due to faulty planning by the BMTC, are yet to make their appearance. But what has made an appearance is an extra bus stop adjacent to the earlier one. The old bus stop wasn’t functioning anyway, so what’s the new stop for? To plaster it with pictures of our local netas, ofcourse! When asked by the residents, neither the BBMP nor the corporator is aware of this new development, particularly because not a single bus takes this route. Resident Rajesh Kumar says, “Let this encourage BMTC to start at least two feeder services using the new e-buses.” Lalithamba says, “Now this is used more for sleeping by the people. It must be called Sleep Stop and not Bus Stop.”

Aakruthi Road breathes again
The Aakruthi Silverline Road at the end of 27th Main took the mickey out of its residents. Championed by Lalithamba BV, a resident of the Aakruthi apartment, she teamed up with the other residents of the area, including Ramakrishna, Kamesh and Sankar, to get the road works going. After months of persuading the authorities, the money was sanctioned in June and the road was relaid in November.

Trucks, travel buses stay away
Trucks and travel buses were parking en masse on 18th Cross Service Road in Sector 3 for quite some time now. But with the recent profusion of commercial establishments on this road, there is little space for them to park and they have just vanished from the scene. Similarly, even the 19th Main Service Road is largely free of them. The issue of parking by trucks and travel buses was raised at a traffic meet-up way back in June and it’s showing results now. Earlier, they would park all night and the whole weekend, making a mess of things. They would turn the area into an open defecating zone and even damage the roads with maintenance repairs and greasing oils.

Illegal structure demolished
BBMP contractor Roopesh, though known for all the good work being done, tried to do something illegal. He was building a watchman’s shed on a storm water drain and footpath in HSR to prevent night dumping. The plan was to install CCTVs and prevent dumping of mixed garbage near Freedom International School in Sector 4. But the construction was illegal as no one can build anything on a footpath or a storm water drain even if the motive is noble. Therefore, it was demolished following protests from residents. The status quo remains. There is a night vigil by a BBMP worker and those dumping garbage are fined regularly.

Human chain against KCDC
Last month, residents of HSR and its extension areas like Somasundrapalya, Mangammanapalya, Kudlu, Harlur and Hosapalya formed a human chain around the polluting compost plant, Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC). Says resident Sudipan Mukherjee: “The media guys were telling that they have not seen such a large gathering of people, which is comprised of apolitical and peaceful citizens in the recent past.” Adds Kamesh Rastogi: “There were more than 2000 affected people to express their anguish in a democratic and peaceful way.” Says resident activist RS Murthy: “I have been a resident of HSR Layout for nearly 18 years. I have not seen such cohesive and mission-conscious people of the neighbourhood supporting the cause.” A few days later, residents saw grass burning around the RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) mountain which is a ticking time bomb. To prevent it from going off, the KCDC has been covering it with mud. By this time, they were supposed to have sent this to cement factories to be used as fuel, but a significant portion of it is yet to be cleared. When the fire broke out last month just like it did last year, the officials kept mum at the fortnightly Joint Action Team meeting. “The fire started around 5pm and the KCDC staff doused it by 6pm using a water tanker. But around 6:30pm, it started again and the fire engines came by 7:15pm to successfully extinguish it,” reports resident S Sankar.

Economical and hygienic eatery
Arogya Ahaara, a fast food joint in Sector 5 behind Greenview hospital is ushering in hygienic cuisine. Their anti plastic rules are impressive. They don’t give any plastic containers and even have a board asking their patrons to bring steel containers. And it’s economical too. From half cup tea/coffee for Rs 10 to half cup milk for Rs 20 to Rs 25 for dosa and Rs 10 for idli, it’s using organic dish washing liquid and a ‘world-class dish washer’. Not to mention, a chutney counter that asks you not to waste food. The only concern is that there is hardly any footpath and people tend to park and order, jamming up the road. The restaurant has deployed a security guard to disperse the vehicles, but then, this is something they should have thought of earlier and made adequate parking arrangements or chosen a place that had ample space for parking.