Woes galore at RT Nagar, thanks to downpour

Woes galore at RT Nagar, thanks to downpour
The Times of India

Bangalore: Once upon a time, many residents were attracted to Rabindranath Tagore Nagar, popularly known as RT Nagar. They dreamt of building a home amidst clean environs, spacious green parks and wide roads, far from the maddening traffic and buzz of daily life. But last month’s heavy spell of rain and subsequent floods shattered them all.

More than civic problems, it is the apathy of authorities that has hurt residents. Many a time, they have knocked at the doors of the powers-that-be to seek solution of a problem or set right a violation, but the indifference they encounter has been shocking.

This has been bothering retired HAL officer T R P Naidu, who as secretary of the RT Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, has been writing to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board. “Almost every road — I main, II Main, 100 Feet Road and Double Road — has potholes. My letters to the BMP’s engineering department has fallen on deaf ears. Worse, when contractors or other agencies dig the road for development or repair works, including water supply and sewage, no damage-control is done. They just leave the road in that state and disappear. Each agency blames the other, but the debris remains,’’ he said.

The heavy rain in October made things worse for residents. The roads became slushy and muddy, traffic became chaotic and made life hell for residents. But corporation officials throw up their hands up in despair. “We have done our best during that crisis. We could have done nothing more. This area has grown beyond its capacity, and to improve facilities we need huge capital,’’ said a senior officer requesting anonymity.
Another major problem is streetlights, which go off and on. The residents’ association has to speak to the contractors, pull strings at the corporation headquarters to see to it that the fused tubes are replaced.

“Then, there’s the street dog menace. What I cannot manage is the dogs chasing my seven-year-old every day when she returns from school,’’ says Asha, a homemaker staying in RT Nagar II Main. “There are at least seven or eight dogs on each road. When the corporation boys come to the area, they make no effort to catch them.’’ she added.

The story of the stormwater drains is another source of misery for residents. The Sultanpalya Main Road has stormwater drains clogged with garbage. Though door-to-door collection of garbage is being done regularly, many residents continue to dump construction debris, mud from the garden and other municipal waste on the footpaths, says Suresh S, a software professional in the area. Worse, they are left unattended to even by the conservancy staff.