Sunday, the designated weekly holiday for most, has become a day for protests rather than leisure for many Bengalureans.
Like other citizens-led protests, residents of TS Halli in Whitefield gathered to agitate against the local authorities— the BBMP and local gram panchayat— for the shoddy condition of Chikkatirupathi Road, the only road connecting the locality with Bengaluru city.
While half of the problematic stretch is under BBMP limits, the other half is under the Gram Panchayat. So far, the response from the authorities have not positively responded to the situation.
“There is a 2-2.5 km stretch of road from Hope Farm signal in Channasandra towards Bengaluru city centre. Close to 300 people gathered today (Sunday) and we are also planning follow up action. Both the MLA and corporator have acknowledged the problem. The police told us to send a representation to the PWD although government agencies should work without public intervention,” said Manoj, a local resident who was part of Sunday’s protest.
What’s infuriating residents further is the fact that the road was dug up recently for the government’s ambitious project to distribute treated sewage water to Kolar. Residents were promised good roads once the project is completed, but two months since it wrapped up, the road remains in a deplorable condition
Although the Chikkatirpuathi road was freshly tarred, it got washed away with just one week of rains.
Another protester, Amit, said, “The stretch of 2.5 kms has many schools like the Delhi Public School and has potholes as big as 10 feet and 2 feet deep. It takes around 45 minutes just to travel 2 kms due to the traffic pile up due to the bad condition of roads. It’s like roads are between the craters and it’s back breaking. This is the only route towards Bengaluru from Hoskote side.”