BBMP yet to fulfil its promise to Jayanagar

BBMP yet to fulfil its promise to Jayanagar
4th Block Complex Still Waits For New Lease Of Life
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: A multi-storey structure with underground parking — it’s an ambitious plan to revive this good ol’ shopping complex at 4th Block, Jayanagar. The detailed project report (DPR) for the new complex is likely to be ready in a week.
According to BBMP officials, it will take a minimum of 18 months for the structure to come up once tenders are floated and finalized.
“Until that happens, traders and vendors will be shifted temporarily to Puttanna Kanagal Complex,” a BBMP official involved in the project said.
HAUNTING PAST LINGERS
It’s not the present, but the unlearned lessons of the past that worry people here. The renovated structure has only been a plan in the making for almost 18 months now. This, ever since the complex’s ground floor was almost gutted in an accident in early 2008.
So till date, presentations and plans have been the only features of the new building. Nothing seems to have gone into safeguarding the present. Even after the blaze, firefighters today will have a tough time trying to enter the complex via the approach road — what has changed for good is hard to tell.
Also, one only needs to enter gate No. 1, the main gate, to see unfinished network laid for emergency water supply. Not surprisingly, the openended pipelines lead to nowhere and the red box for the water hose is junk.
As if this situation of neglect was not enough, vendors who have encroached upon nearby sidewalks, have been shifted around the dilapidated complex.
Business activities here may appear robust to the uninitiated eye, but on closer look from the first floor, one finds nothing has changed. While BBMP maintains the complex is completely damaged and needs to be revamped to bring it back to life, the question remains: why not plan something better for the present as well?
STILL THE SAME
Vendors who have encroached upon nearby sidewalks have been shifted near the dilapidated complex. Business here may appear robust but on closer look, one finds nothing has changed