Congestion around a prime lung space City ballot problems

Congestion around a prime lung space City ballot problems

Bageshree S.
Various degrees of development and neglect mark Chickpet
— PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

Bad news: Unbridled construction activity leads to unlawful structures as this one in Kalasipalyam in Chickpet constituency.
Bangalore: With the historic Lalbagh Botanical Gardens bang in the middle, Chickpet Assembly Constituency is made up of a cluster of BBMP wards around it with varying degrees of development and neglect. Interestingly, Chickpet ward itself does not lie in this constituency, but in the neighbouring Gandhinagar constituency.

The localities here can be roughly divided into three categories: those that are relatively well laid out with decent civic amenities; older localities struggling to deal with the pressures of a bourgeoning metropolis and growing beyond their capacity; and pockets that have suffered complete neglect.

Kalasipalyam is one area in this constituency where the very notion of civic amenities seems to break down. A visit to the vegetable market — with cows chomping away at mounds of putrefying garbage — is a place that can put a person off vegetables for a lifetime.

Traffic on the narrow roads, which includes every variety of vehicles from trucks and buses to bullock carts and pushcarts, is always in a tangled mess here and in all the “pete” areas around it. Though people are happy many roads have now been asphalted, this nerve centre of wholesale business continues to be in a state of eternal mess.

At the other end of the spectrum are areas like Jayanagar and Visvesvarapuram which are better off in terms of basic civic amenities. However, they are not able to cope with the new commercial pressures and are slowly losing their character as quiet residential localities.

They have seen a spurt in construction activities and traffic flow, and suffer all the resultant pressures on civic amenities.

With Bangalore’s precious lung space at its heart, the biggest common problem of areas around it in Chickpet constituency is that they are growing increasingly congested.