Padmanabhnagar : Problems galore

Padmanabhnagar : Problems galore

Deccan Herald


BANGALORE:The City is moving towards becoming‘Greater.’ It is ‘surging’ forward with all its problems intact. One need not go far. Justvisit the locality, where former prime minister H D DeveGowda who has virtually thewhole State Government under his ‘control,’lives.

The biggest ward and theone generating the largest revenue in the City is Ward number 55.

Unfortunately it is big onlyby name.In the last four yearsthis ward has hardly got anymoney for development.In thelast ten years the developmentwork has come to a completestandstill.

The invisible roads, theever increasing encroachment, the undergrounddrainage problems...there arehundreds of such problemsthis ‘pride’ of Bangalore isfacing. For instance, the wardstill boasts of a mud road!Where are the roads inHrishikeshnagar andMookambikanagar, is thequestion asked here.It is a pathetic situation for people living here.

“In spite of repeated complaints nothing has happenedhere. The administration isdead,” complain the locals. Ifone travels towards Ittumadu,the road has been encroachedupon.

There is supposed to be a 50ft wide stretch of road.Even ifone measures it hundred times,it will never measure to50 ft. “It is definitely true thatward 55 ward is the wardwhich pays the highest tax.Till now Rs 7.5 crore has beencollected. But in the last fiveyears the amount of moneyspent is only Rs 4.5 crore,”saidAbhyudaya Association JointSecretary B V Ramakrishna.

Rupees 8 crore had beensanctioned in 2004 for asphalting of 50 km of roads.

Pallavi Construction Company which bagged the contract completed Rs 50 lakhworth of works and vanished.Now it is divided into twopackages and the contractawarded accordingly, said Palike sources.

That means not a singlepaise has been released for this ward after the work beganin 2004. If the Rs 8 crore hadbeen spent, the ward wouldhave got Rs 30 crore grant bynow,feel the locals.

If one asks what the localcorporator L Srinivas did during his tenure, which endedrecently,there is all round disappointment. The majorityopinion is that he has donenothing for the developmentof the ward.

He was not available andeven in spite of trying to meethim on several occasions, theconstant reply was, ‘Srinivasis busy.’ Though nothing wasdone during the corporator’stenure, at least now somework is going on, said Abhyudaya organisation’s Ramakrishna.