TIMES CIVIC — 6 SUDDAGUNTEPALYA

TIMES CIVIC — 6 SUDDAGUNTEPALYA
Low life breathes in Suddaguntepalya
Garbage Cleared Once A Week, More Canines Than Humans

The Times of India

Bangalore: A stink unfit for human habitation, no roads at all for most parts, and Heaven help when it pours. Better be ginger in this narrow land of potholes, you never know which pile of garbage you will trip on and fall. That’s Suddaguntepalya in C V Raman Nagar, for you.

Roads in the area, which start
bang opposite the LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment), have not been asphalted for decades and a huge uncleaned drain runs alongside the roads. A common sight is of people carefully treading with kerchief and scarves pressed to their noses.

Some 3 tonnes of garbage originate from this entire ward of C V Raman Nagar — which is actually a cluster of villages like G M Palya, Malleshpalya, New Thippasandra, Suddaguntepalya etc. LRDE is surrounded by slummy areas with the entrance being a narrow 7-foot stretch perennially blocked by lorries and other transport vehicles. The pavements here are a joke, just tiny stretches of land bare enough to accommodate one person at a time. Constant complaint of working women is that autorickshaws refuse to ply to this area, as no roads exist.

Residents complain that the power supply is erratic and that voltage fluctuates between 175 v to 290 v. A 2kv transformer, installed here about 11 years ago to cater to four to five houses then, is still running to a population that has grown manifolds, engineers reckon.

“Bescom says the fluctuation is due to maintenance,” say residents.

In a pith, the area lacks everything that hurt the most — roads, water, electricity.

A joke among LRDE employees is that the canine population here exceeds the human population. Still, no canine vans have made trips here in ages, a fact supported by BCC records and the residents.

To all the woes, corporator Prathima Raghu’s husband, MLA Raghu (who apparently handles the problems and peeves of the area) says, “We started concrete roads 15 days ago. The area was added to the corporation limits only in 1997, so it will take some time before it develops fully. After all, it is a cluster of villages.’’ On the garbage menace, he says only 95 workers cleared garbage, while the requirement is for 300.

A filmy twist
Frustrated by the inaction and inspired by media attention on civic issues, M R Nair, a retired naval officer, has made a 20-minute film capturing the life and times of Suddaguntepalya. The film captures how people walk about with cringed noses and the garbage piled up opposite the road leading to LRDE.