Koramangala: The road that never was

Koramangala: The road that never was

Public frets and fumes as the work on 80-feet road reaches nowhere.

Deccan Herald

The ‘80-feet road’ in Koramangala is wrongly named — it should have been something on the lines of ‘80 feet of no road at all’.

The whole stretch from the Games Village at one end, through the ring road junction, and towards Koramangala first block is a mass of mud and stone. The grey of asphalt was last seen well over a year ago.

The road was dug so that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) could replace the 12-inch sewer trunk pipes with 18-inch ones for the piling sewage to move a lot more efficiently. Quite unlike the traffic, points out Abhinesh Jose, who lives two streets away.

He remembers that the road used to be “pretty decent”, but that was a long time ago. First it was dug up for the optic fibre cables that were run underneath. No sooner were the roads done up than they were dug up again by the BSNL, he recalls.

“It is a continuous cycle,” says Mr Jose, adding that he would like to charge the government for the maintenance of his bike. “I’ve lost count of the punctures I’ve had.”

“At this rate,” remarks his friend I N Belliappa, who also moves around Koramangala regularly, “I’m not going to pay my taxes next year.” BWSSB chief engineer (waste water management) Thippeswamy told Deccan Herald that the work got finished about two months ago. It had begun over a year ago. Mr Rame Gowda, chief engineer of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), explained that the road could not be done up as long as the BWSSB work went on.

Now that it is over, he said, the BMP has started its work, with the World Bank providing Rs 3.2 crore for the two-kilometre stretch from Viveknagar till Sarjapur Road.

They will follow the same standards for this road as set for the ring roads.
“That whole stretch is a blot on us,” he admits. He was confident that the work would be completed by May this year.

He has welcomed suggestions from the public. They can either write to his office or call him on 98441 55789.