For 10 days, Whitefield was a battlefield

For 10 days, Whitefield was a battlefield
Bangalore, Feb 5, DHNS:

It was 10 days in hell for residents in Whitefield as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) dug up an entire stretch in the Old Market area disrupting telephone lines and water supply.

And yet again, Palike officials were at a loss of words over who was responsible for the melee. On January 25 2010, C L Johnson woke up to the deafening roar of JCBs tearing up the stretch of road in front of his home for construction of a Storm Water Drain connecting it to Varthur Lake.

In what was to be a “ramp walk” for the residents and citizens in the area, the four feet wide ditch had them scrambling for makeshift walkways to cross the construction work and make it to the road.

The JCB continued work continued round-the-clock and was “successful” to cut through the water lines and telephone cables that were running below the road. Residents went to the local BBMP office to complain. In response, they were given the telephone number of the concerned engineer, who in turn asked them to contact BWSSB for further answers over the disruption of water supply.

Contacted by Deccan Herald, BBMP officials’ reply was that BWSSB in their initial estimate had not mentioned about water lines running below the dug-up road. “We were told and given an estimate of Rs 7.5 lakh for the sewerage lines and nothing was discussed on the water lines running below,” said a BBMP official.

No BBMP official in the Mahadevapura zone were available to give a statement on who was responsible for making a mess of normal life on Whitefield Main Road.