Castle Street in the heart the city has turned into a nightmare for residents of the road. Almost four months ago, KPTCL dug up the road to lay their lines which took over a month to be completed. Contractors were hired and water and sewage lines of most of the homes on the road were damaged during the digging. Requests for the lines to be repaired fell on deaf ears and finally private plumbers were hired by most residents to repair their lines.
Immediately, BBMP issued notices to the residents and in some cases threatened to take them to the police since they did not get prior permission to dig the road to lay their lines. No amount of explanation that the lines were not damaged by them were taken heed of, the residents had to run around Mayo Hall to get official approval, for what was not their fault.
Castle Street. Pic: Marianne De Nazareth.
Meanwhile, with the rains, the road turned into a slushy mess and all the dirt from the road came into adjoining homes with the continuous rush of cars driving past. Recently news items appeared in leading dailies about a young student falling into a hole in the pavement and breaking both her legs. A week ago another woman fell breaking her knee cap and has been advised bed rest for 3 weeks while her leg is in a brace keeping her immobile.
The contractor hired to repair the pavement has left his work incomplete. Only part of the pavement is complete, the rest has been left undone making it dangerous for pedestrians to walk on. Deep potholes make the road a mine field to negotiate and is a danger to the life and limb of two wheeler riders. When the residents approach the KPTCL, they say their work is complete and the rest is up to the BBMP. Over flowing sewage due to damaged man holes have only been temporarily fixed by BWSSB which make the problem a recurrent one. Every time it rains the manholes spout fountains of sewage which passing cars splash onto pedestrians, mainly children walking to and from the school.
There is no one, agency that can be held responsible and all point fingers to one another – KPTCL, BWSSB, BBMP et al. The pavement has to be repaired along with the entire road, the damaged manholes need to be internally repaired and the entire road needs desperate asphalting. Who do we approach to have our grievances attended to? Does anyone have any answers out there? ⊕
In this God Forsaken State, nothing happens without bribing.
Oh there is another way. Get all the residents to gather around 10 a.m. and block out the road till 7 p.m. get the press and T,V. to film the mini bund. May be the authorities will remove their hands from their pockets and get to work!!!
SHEENA DESAI
This is the story of Bangalore roads. Is there one road (apart from the present Vittal Mallya Road) that doesn’t fit the description?
I drive through Castle Street every morning on my way to work. And everyday I curse the road because it’s a nightmare to navigate it. On one side there is no pavement and further down it just gets worse with not potholes but craters. Either my bones are still in pretty good shape to still remain dislocated or my bike has better shock absorbers than I thought. Whatever the reason, I am glad I still live to tell the tale of that murderous road.
Typo – *to not be dislocated