TIMES CIVIC — 2 COX TOWN

TIMES CIVIC — 2 COX TOWN
Wild growth overtakes quaint Cox Town
The Times of India

Bangalore: Long ago, this area exemplified the best of Indo-British living in Bangalore. Days were filled with quietude, evenings spent pottering around in the garden and topped off with a stroll to the neighbour's for dinner and some piano playing.

There were hardly any cars those 60-plus years ago. No harsh klaxons seared the silence, no call centre vehicles ripped up the roads, and the only noise then was birdsong, apart, of course, from the odd creak of a bicycle.

Today, Cox Town is one of the 'fast developing' areas of Bangalore. It has all the trappings --from the requisite multistoreyed apartment buildings to crowded lanes, overflowing drains and the omnipresent garbage.

Retired Admiral O S Dawson lived on Charles Campell Road in Cox Town in his youth. "We would go to Cox Market for some excitement. It was so neat and clean in those days. Today, they sell vegetables in one corner and mutton, chicken and fish in another. It is terribly unhygienic and full of flies,'' Dawson, who now lives on Viviani Road in Richards Town, said.

People went on the main road in Cox Town just to get to Kalpalli cemetery, he said. Today, the Wheeler Road extension-Cox Town railway junction is a major transit towards Lingarajapuram, Kalyannagar, Banaswadi, Maruthisevanagar, Kothnur and other places. At peak times, traffic moves at snail's pace.

A doctor whose clinic is near the railway junction said peak hours are hell for his patients. The noise and fumes from the vehicles often make patients feel worse, he said.

If Cox Town produces nostalgia in Dawson, it makes Philomena Peris impatient. Peris, former chairperson of the State Women's Commission, lives in Cleveland Town bordering Fraser Town and Cox Town. "Garbage is not removed and worse, loudspeakers blare night and day. Besides, is there any planning involved in the huge apartment complexes coming up,'' she asked.

But, Peris felt that mere complaining about civic matters is not enough. "Citizens must form committees to tackle these problems. That is what we are doing,'' she added. But Dawson felt there can be no bonding in a place where neighbours don't know each other. "It is so impersonal now,'' he said.

Apparently, unfamiliarity with the area extends to the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) as well. Area executive engineer M.C. Prakash said he took over just four months ago and therefore, cannot comment on conditions in the area.

Potential problems
Water: Cox Town gets Cauvery water. But the bigger the apartment complex, the bigger the borewell required. This lowers groundwater levels.
Drainage: Sewage presently pours into the storm water drain (SWD) near RBANMS grounds because a project to lay the main sewer line is now in court. As water in SWDs percolates down, groundwater gets contaminated. But Board says work will resume soon.
Declining tree cover: As bungalows in the area go, so do the trees that once thrived on these huge plots.
Overflowing manholes: A common sight.
Garbage: More bins will help.

VITAL STATISTICS

•Cox Town comes under Ward No. 85 Sarvagnanagar

•Corporator N. Indira

•Location: north-east portion of city

MLASPEAK: NIRMAL KUMAR SURANA
The area as such really has no problems, apart from things like tarring of roads, which the corporation is doing. The drainage trouble does not pertain to Cox Town, per se, but is more towards Murphy Town. It is, however, true that the linking of drains has been held up as the matter is in court.But, 'overflowing manholes' are not common in Cox Town. I have no special projects lined up at the moment for the area.