Another Koramangala in the making

Another Koramangala in the making
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Stinking garbage right on the streets, non existent drainage cleverly masked by stone inlay, encroached buildings, it has all the signs of a civic disaster in the making.

J P Nagar 1st Phase is full of rule violations, bad infrastructure and corporators who refuse to respond to the woes of the residents.

The J P Nagar 1st Phase Residents’ Welfare Association has taken up these issues with the authorities, much in vain, the association president K R Venkatachalapathy Setty says. The heart of the problem is along Sarakki Main Road that connects inner ring road with outer ring road through Indira Gandhi circle and Sarakki village.

The road is a narrow stretch that is 25-30 feet wide that has to sustain a traffic flow of up to 15,000 vehicles every day. The narrow road further tapers down.

The pavement, damaged in many places, exists only on one side of the road while slabs of stones have been laid on the other side to cover a non-existent drainage system.

Residents say that using the pavement is also next to impossible because of encroachments, shop owners using the space to store their goods and construction workers shutting off sections of the pavement.

Association secretary B Ramakrishna Udupa says that this has led to a lot of accidents with people finding it extremely difficult to walk when buildings are being constructed above their heads.

Resident A Seshadri Iyer points to a set of buildings that are being constructed on Sarakki Main Road that are grossly violating planning rules of the BMP. The builders have failed to leave out space around the site as required.

‘‘By the looks of the building, one can see that these are not apartments. They will surely be used for commercial purposes that will put more pressure on the roads,’’ fears Iyer.

The members of the association have repeatedly written to the area corporator and to the BMP but the response has not been very encouraging. They have now proposed a parallel road that could be extended from Jayanagar 7th main through the adjoining vacant land that belongs to the government.

Then the Sarakki Road can be made one-way to reduce the flow of traffic, they say. They also demand a look into the encroachments and well-maintained pavements. Unless this is done, and done quickly, the residents fear the Sarakki area could turn into another Koramangala.