ROAD REACHES DEAD END!

ROAD REACHES DEAD END!
BBMP stops asphalting road after residents in JP Nagar fight over the design; while some demand asphalting, a family wants entire road reconstructed
B K LAKSHMIKANTHA & SHASHWATHI BHANUKUMAR


The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, which is on a road-laying spree across the city, has found its brakes jammed on the 20th Main Road in JP Nagar II Phase. The reason: Residents flanking the road are fighting over the road design.
While some residents want the BBMP to asphalt the road, a bureaucrat's family wants it reconstructed. The ongoing battle between the residents has left the BBMP in a fix, so much so that it has stopped work on a 100-metre stretch for the last five days.
The bureaucrat in question is Nagaraj S, the Chief Conservator of Forests. The problem is Nagaraj's house was built 30 years ago and is at a low level. The other three houses built recently are at an elevated level. Nagaraj's family claims the water from all the three houses accumulate in front of their house. "We are tolerating this for the past 20 years. During festivals, we get up early and draw rangoli. Even that is washed away. We cannot tolerate this anymore," says Sudha Nagaraj, his wife.
WORK STALLED
On Tuesday, Sudha and her two daughters made the BBMP stop asphalting of the road in front of their house. The bureaucrat's family wants the road to be elevated in the middle and sloped towards both sides of the road.
Sudha telephoned BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena after managing to stop the work. "He (the commissioner) had sent BBMP officers and had a vigilance inquiry done before the work began. We want that design to be followed," said Sudha.
Residents, however, claim no such inquiry was done. "Even if such an inquiry had to be done, it had to be done before asphalting the road. They have dug up our road without any work order and at the behest of Nagaraj's wife," said Umesh K G, a neighbour who works as the quality head at DCODE Research Services.
SPECIAL 'PERMISSION'
Raghavendra, a businessman whose home is just opposite to Nagaraj's, claimed he had built his own water channel in front of his house and there was very little chance of water flowing into Nagaraj's house. "The BBMP also broke the channel when they dug up the road. Who has given them the permission to do that?" he asked.
All that the residents want is asphalting of the dug-up road and restoring it to its original shape. "There are minor accidents every night. Motorists drive at high speeds, do not notice the dug-up stretch and fall down," say the residents.
NO FLOODING
Nagaraj and his family, on the other hand, want the road to be elevated in the middle and sloped towards the houses on both sides. "This way the water will be streamlined towards one direction and will not enter any of the houses," said Nagaraj. "The BBMP has assured me that the work will be completed by Monday," he said.
When Bangalore Mirror contacted Assistant Executive Engineer (South), Krishnappa, he said he had received orders from higher authorities. "I was told to make chambers on both sides and make the road slope from both the sides. I do not have any idea about their personal differences. The work will be completed on Saturday."