Water woes give way to euphoria

Water woes give way to euphoria



R Jayaprakash | TNN



Bangalore: Flashback to Puttenahalli, JP Nagar VII Phase during the last monsoon. The crater-raddled roads were under 4 ft of water, the lake was overflowing and there were no stormwater drains. The list of woes was endless. The pleas for infrastructure were so heart-rending that the chief minister himself visited the area to listen to infuriated residents. You wouldn’t have gone there even if someone paid you to do so.
You’d go there now, without any sweetener. Puttenahalli is a shambles-tosheen story. And residents, who yelled at the CM last year, are all set to welcome him to inaugurate the area’s infrastructure projects on April 26.
The BDA and BWSSB carried out the road works on a war-footing between Kothanur and Konanakunte — about 9 km and at a cost of Rs 20.77 crore.
However, asphalting was delayed as the BWSSB had to do the comprehensive stormwater drain and sewerage works at a cost of Rs 54 lakh. At two places, BWSSB engineers dug 15 ft below the road to make new alignments for the drains as they couldn’t find space on either side of the road due to builtup structures.
BDA will finish all the road works by April 25 and as of today around 95 per cent of the asphalting work on the 9-km stretch has been completed. “If not for the delay in drain work, the project would have been completed on schedule, in September 2006,’’ BDA officials said.
With the infrastructure falling into place, residents are upbeat. C Srinivas says: “The long-pending prayers of residents of JP Nagar VII Phase Puttenahalli have been answered. The area which would get inundated every monsoon has turned into a much sought after locality today. The project was delayed but we are happy that at last it’s through.’’
If you needed confirmation of the area value, check out the property rates. Name any top builder in the town and he has a project here. A year ago, a big-banner apartment complex had no takers, with around four blocks lying empty.
Today, it’s abuzz with residents. Realtors in the locality are ecstatic — property prices have escalated by Rs 300 to Rs 600 per sqft and the going rate is now around Rs 3,000 per sqft. Rentals have gone up too. The road has also enabled connectivity to Kanakapura Road and Anjanapura.
The litmus test will be this monsoon. BWSSB and BBMP are going all out to prevent flooding. With the area coming under the BBMP umbrella, it will see some more developments.
While the BWSSB is taking up a comprehensive project under Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Project with funds flowing from JNNURM, the BBMP will take up asphalting of roads in the residential areas.