Flooded roads, nowhere to go

Piped footpaths only on main thoroughfares

By NIRMALA G

As reported earlier, the residents can see visible improvements of roads and footpaths on all the main roads of HSR Layout, particularly 27th Main. The footpaths are similar to what you see as part of TenderSURE roads on St Mark’s Road. The footpaths are well tiled and the trees that were planted earlier have grown. However, some of the tree guards need to be removed now as the trees are on their feet. However, neither are the shopkeepers bothered about that and nor is the BBMP doing anything about them.

The residential roads are worse off. Whenever it rains, the roads are flooded. There is no way the water can enter the drains and go underground, thanks to the tarred roads being at a level below the footpath. The best example of this is the entrance area of the Rs 5 crore Swabhimaana Tree Park in Sector 3. The water just accumulates out here, and soon, we can see a huge pothole developing on this stretch of the road that received a fresh coat of tar quite recently. Despite repeated complaints regarding this, the BBMP hasn’t done anything about it. We urge MLC Ugrappa and MLA Sathish Reddy to ensure that special piping needs to be done just like the way it’s done on certain stretches of 24th Main and 27th Main to allow the rain water to flow into the storm water drain.

“The pipes are laid only on major roads that are 60 feet and 80 feet,” said BBMP Executive Engineer Ananth Raju. “We have no budgetary provision for the internal roads.”
Thanks to the grant of Rs 22 crore by the state government, the stormwater drains, culverts and drain remodelling are partially complete. The residents complain that the progress is slow and warn of the impending rainy season that could undo all the previous efforts of the BBMP.

The footpaths are unwalkable because of street vendors setting up shops or trees and bushes encroaching them as the BBMP isn’t pruning them regularly. Therefore, on stretches that have the best tiled footpath, the trees and other encroachments prevent the pedestrians from making full use of it. Some stretches of 24th Main and 17th Cross have big pipes on the footpath to allow the rainwater to enter the drains from the road.

We only wish this facility is also provided to all the roads, big and small, as it will be quite economical in the long run as the roads will suffer much less wear and tear.