Nagarabhavi fed up with bad roads

Nagarabhavi fed up with bad roads
The Times of India

Nagarabhavi: Enough has been written and spoken about the sorry state of Nagarabhavi. Though the population of the area is growing in leaps and bounds, the civic amenities haven’t kept pace with it.

The Nagarabhavi II Stage 80 Feet Road, about 3-km long and connecting the Outer Ring Road leading to Mysore, is a rude introduction to visitors. A pothole-ridden road, with loads of dust, dirt and pollution, welcomes motorists and pedestrians every day. Most other roads here are also in bad shape — they are either mud roads or very poorly asphalted.

S K Bhat, president, Nagarabhavi II Stage, 13th & 14th Block Residents’ Welfare Association, has been living here for over four years. He asks: “Nagarabhavi has not been developed since 2001 and bad roads are a major problem. The BDA has collected development charges from people during site allocation. It should have developed the area before allotting sites. The residents pay tax to the CMC as well. Why isn’t this money being utilised for development?”

Residents also want dustbins, BMP sweepers to clean the roads, saplings to be planted, a well-maintained park and playground for children and provision stores.


Says Annappa Shetru, owner of a local food outlet in the locality: “The BDA and the CMC blame each other for not carrying out development work. In the end, it’s the residents who suffer.’’ For the record, the BDA handed over the sites to the CMC in 2002 and it has been responsible for development activities since then.

Adds Albert D’Souza, a resident of Apoorva Layout: “The main road causes severe problems to the people. The CMC does only patch work on the roads. Road repairs hardly take place. Poor quality work puts the roads back in the same old condition in a few days time.’’ The Nagarabhavi II Stage 80 Feet road sees dense heavy vehicular traffic which includes buses, fully loaded trucks and lorries ferrying sand and stones.

Says CMC Commissioner Narayana D L: “The BDA has handed over unfinished roads to the CMC which doesn’t have funds to carry out the work. We have already spent Rs 7 lakh for asphalting the main road covering 360 metres but a budget of Rs 10 crore is required for the complete work.’’

CMC Assistant Executive Engineer S Venkatesh explains: “The CMC has enough funds only to maintain the lighting, water and drainage systems and not road repair. But things could be a little better in two weeks as the CMC has been sanctioned a New Year Package of Rs 363 lakh. It includes loan from KUIDFC along with municipality funds for development work which will begin by this month-end. An amount of Rs 300 lakh will be used for asphalting work, Rs 5 lakh for repairing potholes. Also, Rs 122.5 lakh has been allotted for road repair work in some parts of Nagarabhavi.’’

MAIN PROBLEMS
Dearth of provision stores In the 66-sq-km area, the roads are predominantly mud roads Lacks dustbins and sweepers in most areas Playgrounds and parks yet to be developed