Bengaluru: 20 years on, Banashankari 6th stage BDA layout cries for basic amenities

Bengaluru: Residents living in Banashankari sixth stage, close to NICE road are up in arms against the Bangalore Development Authority(BDA), for pushing their lives into hardship. Their repeated requests since they purchased house sites in the layout to the authorities concerned to provide proper infrastructure, drinking water, gardens, pavements, etc have fallen on deaf ears.

Buying a BDA site was once considered the safest investment in Bengaluru, But not any more as residents now regret their decision to buy sites sold by the authority. The basic infrastructure needed for a decent living remains a mirage. The Bangalore Development Authority acquired the land in 1999 in and around Karyanapalya, Gubbalala, Ganagalla, Chikegowadanapalya and Pattegarapalya. It has developed more than 20,000 sites in 14 blocks. The sites were then allotted to citizens and most of them have built their houses.

The Banashankari 6th stage is also adjacent to the Turahalli forest, where the climate is pleasant with thetemperatures a notch lower than that of Bengaluru CBD area. Though nature has blessed them with cheerful atmosphere, the authority has rendered their lives miserable by denying them basic infrastructure. The BDA has not provided a drinking water connection to this 20-year-old layout though the Cauvery water pipeline passes beside the layout nor has it dug any borewells as an alternative water supply.

The only source of water is individual borewells in their homes. The groundwater level is in constant decline. Residents are worried that there might come a time when they have to pay for daily water tanker, says one of the residents, Vajramuni. The BDA, which advertises in newspapers during the auction process of the corner sites, it labels them as a prestigious layout.

The residents question the BDA's claim in advertisements that their's is a prestigious layoutto attract buyers without providing access to as basic a need as drinking water? The drainage system is not adequate.There are open manholes everywhere. There are no waste treatment plants. In some cases, water flowson the surface from one manhole to another as they are not interconnected withpipes. Residents of the 2nd Block complain that this is causing health hazards to the residents.