Chaos rules KR Market

Chaos rules KR Market


The construction of an underpass creates congestion at the market’s junction.
Tasneem ZaveryFirst Published : 26 Oct 2009 05:24:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 26 Oct 2009 06:57:52 AM IST
BANGALORE: The heart of Bangalore, bustling with trade and commerce, yields revenue and also bears the brunt of steep income tax. An outsider would consider this part of town, popularly known as the Krishna Rajendra Market (KR Market), an ideal place for his cash flow. But it has other problems to deal with.
On a visit to KR Market’s densely populated roads — Narasimha Raja Road (NR Road) and Sadar Patrappa Road (SP Road) which are the hubs of electronics goods and hardware — beware the dugup pavements. “The pavements have been dug up for the past fifteen days. The contractor has not bothered to repair them,” said Raju, a local peanut vendor on NR Road. These dug-up pavements are also dumping zones for garbage.
There are mounds of garbage piled up at every few steps on this road, emitting a stale odour.
Even on SP Road, that runs opposite NR Road, it is the same story. “Zero concept garbage will be launched in the coming months,” said Bharat Lal Meena, BBMP Commissioner. There will be intensified cleaning to ensure there is no garbage on the streets, he added.
There was a garbage collection system that was followed for a few months, where the shopowner would keep his garbage outside his shop and the BBMP collected it in the morning. But frequency of the BBMP vans in the area has reduced in the last two of months.
Lack of infrastructure and poor sanitation facilities have been the topics of conversation among shopowners and locals in this area.
The incomplete underpass work has made the KR Market junction, opposite Chandra Bhavan Hotel, congested and chaotic. The continuous flow of traffic and people across the junction lead to traffic jams. The BBMP commissioner said that the underpass will be completed shortly.
Illegal construction on closed drains leads to a lot of problem during the monsoons. Even after repeated requests to the BWSSB and the BBMP, no action has been taken. “I wade in ankle deep sewage water during the rainy season,” said Quresh B, a trader on NR Road. Desilting of drains has been done in the past four months, said the BBMP commissioner.
But BK Goyal, co-chairman, civic affairs, infrastructure and PR committee, Federation of Karnataka Chambers and Commerce and Co, has a different view, “Desilting of drains is not done on a regular basis, particularly storm water drains. Cleaning of drains should be done every quarter. A lot of these issues have been discussed time and again, but since the process of files is slow, the work in progress gets delayed.” The BBMP has not been successful in providing sanitation facilities.
Public toilets have been demolished or they stink due to lack of maintenance by the people who use them. “Two out 10 shops have lavatory facilities. So, many have to urinate on the roads,” said Mahinder Singh, a shop owner.