The problems of JP Nagar do not end with the underpass mess on the 24th Main, 15th Cross, in fact the residents are facing inconvenience even because of another major construction in that area. This time it is the construction of the drain line that is the cause of concern for the residents.

Compound walls broken down and used as pass ways (Pic: Supriya Khandekar)

"There is a fight for getting daily necessities, reaching the grocery shop or the bus stand is a big task. The vegetable vendors also do not come regularly," says Sujatha M, who also lives on one side of the dug up road. She is a housewife and a mother of two kids, she also explained that the dust and noise add to the problem caused due to the digging. Along with her all the residents living in the area remain clueless about the completion dates for the project as there is no board mentioning such details.

The Puttenahalli main road (which leads to the Puttenahalli lake) has been dug up. The whole road is seeing the construction of an underground drain that connects to the Puttenahalli lake. The drain line there is under construction from the past few months.

People living on the either side of the main road find it difficult to reach the other side. In fact walking on the main road itself is next to impossible. Vehicles cannot come that way, if anyone wants to be on the main road then walking is the only way. While even walking is not that easy. One has to use the broken compound walls of the houses on the either side of the road as a passage to reach the desired location.

Construction has reached the houses on the either side of the road (Pic: Supriya Khandekar)

The dug up road that has left only mud, water, huge construction material, trucks and cranes all over the place. The digging has reached the houses on the either side of the road and most people have vacated the place. Others however are using these vacant houses by making ways from their compounds and even breaking down the compound walls.

While one side of the road has been temporarily cemented it does not look strong to bear the monsoon. Even on these places the rain water has entered the nearby houses. Along with that the same road has one private clinic still running and the patients have to sit just next to the dust and mud of the construction work.

Even patients on the other side of the road cannot reach the clinic. The whole area flooded because of the rains the earlier night. Some people expressed similar concern about not able to reach the nearest doctor. There are two play schools as well where kids cannot reach.

S Suresh, in his early forties, stays on the side which is now temporarily cemented. He said, "It took four months for this side to get a temporary road but that side seems to be taking longer due to the rains. There is no other way to walk on this road but to break the compound walls. Even doing that does not work if the place is flooded."

The people who are working on the project are also equally affected by this. Nagarjuna who works on the site said that it is sad to look at people who cannot move around, while he adds that because of monsoon the work will take longer to finish.

Dug up road for drain line (Pic: Supriya Khandekar)

"We stop working in the evening and after a heavy shower we cannot start till late the next day as the whole place is flooded," he explains. Nagarjuna has come from Andhra Pradesh and stays in a temporary blue plastic sheet tent on the site itself. His wife also works on the same site and his two daughters play around.

The BBMP engineer-in-chief AK Gopalaswamy was not available for comment after repeated attempts.

Addendum
On 24 July, Chikkarayappa, Chief Engineer (SWD), BBMP said that the construction will be complete by September this year.