SJP Road turns into `dust bowl'

SJP Road turns into `dust bowl'

The Hindu

Land Army ready to implement project on Silver Jubilee Park Road

Bangalore: Work on concreting Silver Jubilee Park Road should have been completed now; but the road remains unpaved and dusty. The businesses located there are reeling under the impact.

B.K. Goyal, Secretary of the Federation of Trade Associations of Central Bangalore, said: "The concreting work was launched formally in November. The work was given to Karnataka Land Army Corporation Ltd. but the road from City Market to Town Hall junction remains dug up with no surfacing work done till now''.

Including the lanes off SJP Road, the area has thousands of small and big traders.

They deal in an eclectic mix of hardware, electronic and electrical goods, motors for pumps and iron and steel.

Sales hit

Many report that sales have fallen by half because potential customers prefer not to brave the day-long "dust storms" the area has now become famous for.

The traders have been closely interacting with utility agencies, including BESCOM, BSNL and BWSSB for several weeks, to see that they relocate their cables and pipes well before the project is taken up.

"They have either completed their part of the work or given their plans and drawings to the BMP and agreed to pay their share. "The Land Army officials say they just need formal approval from the BMP to start the work," Mr. Goyal said.

Funds released

The traders said the work has been included in the list of repairs to damage caused by last year's floods and the State Government has sanctioned; it will not be an additional burden on the BMP.

``There just seems to be no reason for the delay,'' they said. The traders too have a serious problem with the dust raised by vehicles passingby; the incidence of respiratory and skin allergies has increased. The BMP had allotted a mechanical sweeper for the road but it broke down within a few months and is lying in the compound of a hospital, they said. BMP officials said the work will be taken up shortly.