With streets bordered by trees on either side, elite residential colonies, and parks, South Bengaluru’s Jayanagar assembly constituency might come across as an ideal, well-planned layout. But scratch the surface and one can find all the side-effects of rampant urbanisation and unplanned development, which according to many of the residents in the constituency, are hardly addressed by the authorities.
A part of the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency, Jayanagar is the only assembly constituency in the city to have a woman MLA – Sowmya Reddy of the Indian National Congress. Sowmya is the daughter of former Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who was also an MLA from Jayanagar until 2008. Sowmya became an MLA in 2018 after defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) BN Prahlad by a margin of 2,887 votes.
While several residents of Jayanagar have taken note of the positive work by the incumbent MLA, including the distribution of ration kits to primary health centers in the constituency during the COVID-19 pandemic and the opening of an international standard swimming pool in the Byrasandra ward, others also point out that there are some issues that have been left untackled for several years now.
"While we acknowledge some of the good work done by our MLA, we cannot ignore the fact that there are some perennial problems we still haven't managed to address," said Suhas, a resident of the JP Nagar area of the Jayanagar constituency.
Suhas, who has been living in the constituency for the past 19 years, said that over the years the number of commercial establishments in the area has increased rapidly leading to a major traffic crisis, a rise in pollution, and causing disturbance to residents of the area. "As population and commercial activity grew in the area, traffic management has not improved to handle this growth," he said.
This rampant growth has also made vehicle parking an issue, with residents complaining that customers who are out to purchase things end up parking their vehicles in residential areas and sometimes right in front of the gates of houses.
Meanwhile, street vendors near the Jayanagar 4th block bus stop pointed towards the lack of street lights on certain roads. "At night, after we close our shop, it's dangerous to walk home because some places are dark since the street lights have not been working for a long time. There have been instances of robbery and chain snatching in these places at night," said Rani, a fruit vendor.
Further, like in most parts of Bengaluru, Jayanagar also suffers from weak infrastructure, which includes roads filled with potholes, waterlogging each time it rains, and crumbling pavements, which makes it difficult for pedestrians to walk.
According to Nalini, a citizen activist as well as a resident of Jayanagar, one of the reasons as to why urban constituencies like Jayanagar continue to face such issues is the lack of proper ward committees and the absence of elected local body representatives. "Our main demand to whoever becomes the MLA next is to ensure that they conduct ward committee meetings in the constituency. Otherwise, MLA's are hardly aware of what the people need because they only communicate with their party members to understand problems in the constituency," said Nalini.
The other important demand of the residents of the constituency is to complete the reconstruction of the Jayanagar shopping complex. "The shopping complex was a landmark of the city and used to house vegetable stalls, shops, and even a theatre. The complex was demolished for renovation but the work is happening at such a slow pace," said N Mukundan, a member of the Jayanagar Residents Welfare Association.
In the upcoming Assembly polls, Sowmya Reddy will be up against BJP's CK Ramamurthy and Janata Dal's (Secular) (JD(S)) Kalegowda.