Citizens spend own money to have damaged road repaired in Bengaluru city

Bengaluru: The residents Tulasi Layout in Kasavanahalli, Bellandur here have pooled money and got of the 150-metre road repaired after a futile waiting for three years for authorities to act. They have used their hard-earned money to fix the problem.

The road was dug up for various civic works in Tulasi Layout and left in a deplorable state. Despite several requests to the authorities concerned, the residents received no attention to their problem. The recent rains worsened the condition of the road.

The residents, mostly senior citizens, have been living in the locality for the past 20 years. Fed up with the situation, they decided to take the matter into their own hands and not wait for the authorities. Many residents were unhappy with the decision but were left with no other choice. "On an average, each resident contributed Rs 16,000 to have the road repair," said Vishnu Prasad, member of Save Bellandur Forum. The road still needs to be asphalted but is now walkable.

The situation in the nearby localities in Kasavanahalli isn't any better. Seeing the progress of their road repairs, residents in the next cross also have decided to mobilise funds to repair their roads. The residents say that this decision led to some swift action from authorities who hastily did repair some roads in a shoddy manner. They allege that few loads of wet mix was dumped on the road and not even spread evenly. Comparing the repair work executed by citizens and authorities, Vishnu added, "You can see the difference and can notice which one is going to last longer."

They also allege that the primary reason for inaction is that the ward budgets are disproportionate to the fund available. "When BBMP allocates funds, it distributes the funds equally irrespective of the area size. Bellandur is much larger than Jayanagar and receives the same amount of funds," added Vishnu. He added that there is only one AEE for the entire ward and that is inadequate for a ward that is spread over 26.37 sq km while some wards like Jayanagar are less than 2 sq km. Residents hope that ward delimitation will save them from this situation.

Lack of coordination between departments also seems to be causing the problem leading to multiple digging up of roads. The residents allege that first GAIL intended to lay a pipeline, followed by BWSSB digging it up for water, and then for laying drainage pipes. They alleged that even after roads are asphalted, telecommunication companies like Airtel or Jio might dig it up again.