Cries of ‘beda beda, traffic beda’ filled the air in Bengaluru’s Marathahalli where citizens gathered to protest on Friday morning. Their demands? For better roads and development of the Mahadevapura IT hub in Bengaluru.
The protesters gathered at Marathahalli Bridge bus stop around 9.30 am and walked down the outer ring road, before turning back towards the bus stop.
“We are demanding that the elected representatives resign. It is not about which political party is in power, we have no agenda against any one particular party, the issue is that despite having been elected — in some cases multiple times —by the citizens here, they have failed us,” says one of the protestors, Anjali Saini, who is an active member of the citizens’ collective Whitefield Rising.
Organised by several citizen collectives across Mahadevapura including Whitefield Rising, Budigere Rising, and Namma Belagare among others, the protest also saw scores of school children.
The protestors demanded that action be taken and that the Mahadevapura Zone be developed.
The Mahadevapura zone is one of the several zones which fall under the BBMP. In several pockets of this region in Bengaluru, there is a serious lack of road development and most of the roads remain riddled with potholes and in a pitiable condition. In other areas there are no streetlights. The citizens have noted that several accidents which have taken place could have been averted if the roads were in good condition.
Hundreds of people were present at the protest to showcase their support for the cause, according to a press release issued by the organisers 1500 people took part in the protest.
However, it should be noted that this is not the first time that Whitefield Rising has protested. The group has been protesting against the poor condition of roads from as early as 2015.
“Over the past few years we have attempted to collaborate and work with the systems, however unfortunately, Honorable MP and MLA you have not kept your manifesto promises. Corporators, you all have not followed ward committee rules to provide local governance in the manner provided and sanctioned by the 74th amendment to the Constitution,” reads the letter written to the elected officials by the protestors.
As they shouted ‘beda beda, traffic beda,’ several protestors waved signs around.
Just three days ago, 36 school children had a narrow escape as a tree fell on their school bus, injuring the driver, on Varthur-Gunjur main road. Officials had stated that the tree most likely had fallen down due to the BWSSB pipeline digging which had weakened its roots. At the time, Varthur BBMP Corporator Pushpa Manjunath had stated that the recent rains too added to the problem and resulted in the tree falling.
“That incident has definitely gotten more school students to come out to protest today,” adds Anjali.