Village road in heart of City

NO STREETLIGHTS, NO FOOTPATH

Village road in heart of City
Deccan Herald

Will Chief Minister N Dharam Singh ever take a walk on the Uttarahalli main road near Padmanabhanagar? This is the challenge posed by residents of Chikkalasandra, who have not seen any asphalting on their roads for the past four years.

Potholes decorate a good four-km stretch from Raghashri Industries to Uttarahalli Circle. Open drains and an enormous amount of dust rising on the road add to their woes.

This is the main link road connecting Hosur Road with Chikkalasandra, Subramanyapura, Uttarahalli and Mysore Road. As such, stone- and sand-laden trucks and BMTC buses add to the high traffic density on the road.

There is no footpath along the entire stretch. Pedestrians have to resort to walking on the main road. As there are no street-lights, they often walk at night in darkness, risking their lives. At some points, electric poles stand right in the middle of the road. The road is also often-dug for various ‘maintenance’ or civic works. Dug-up mud and debris lies along the road, obstructing traffic.

Says a resident, Vedavyasa Koteshwara, “we don’t know who we must ask to find a solution to this problem.”

Students struggle

The road houses a plethora of top educational institutions of the city and has thousands of students travelling up and down every day. Hundreds of school and college buses ply the road. Parents are perpetually worried, wondering if their children are safe when going to school, said a school official.

“MP Tejaswini Sriramesh had visited us to seek votes last year but hasn’t been seen around since then. When we went to her office to express our grievances, we weren’t even allowed inside. We’ve submitted petitions to MLA R Ashok and corporator Srinivas, PWD Minister H D Revanna and JDS leaders. They all give assurances but the work never gets done,” the residents cry.

Senior citizens trying to lead a peaceful retired life in the residential apartments here have developed breathing problems because of the dusty stretch. During the rainy season, they cannot even make out the difference between the road and deep potholes. There have been instances of children and the elderly falling down. “Buses too have got stuck in the potholes. Autos refuse to ply,” said Dr Vijayalakshmi Rao, a resident.