Hayes Road in Richmond Town is considered one of the better addresses to have in town. Yes, the homes are posh, the residents keep excellent, photo worthy homes, the gardens are lovely, but the condition of the road is a total and absolute mess. The road is a despair of the residents who have been trying desperately to get the corporation to do something to alleviate their suffering.
Take a look at the pictures; you need to go no further. At the end of the road, there is a house which residents say has been locked up for years. In the small compound, an illegal open air restaurant is being run. From morning to night, building workers and office workers, security staff and even policemen who work around the area, come and eat there, throwing excess food all around and into the drain. A bucket has been kept for the plates, but the entire area attracts rats and all kinds of vermin which the residents of the houses have to bear the brunt of. Besides, the whole pavement and road becomes a meeting place for people eating buffet style on the road, making driving difficult for motorists. If the police are eating there as well, what hope do we have of controlling this?
Pic: Marianne de Nazareth
Just a little ahead, take a look at the drains and the pavements. They are death traps for anyone who would like to walk to the bank or surrounding shops, rather than take the car. How is it possible when the pavements are broken and uneven, with sewage running in the drain below? The pictures say it all.
Pic: Marianne de Nazareth
Pic: Marianne de Nazareth
As the drain goes further down the ‘cow trap’ put over the huge storm water drain is missing. At night, unsuspecting pedestrians could meet their death in the drain, with no one hearing their cries for help. Again the picture shows the depth of the drain with sewage running down in it.
Pic: Marianne de Nazareth
The pavement in front of another locked up house on Hayes Road is used for garbage collection. Garbage is piled up high and is ‘segregated’ by waste pickers opening out the bags and spreading the garbage across the road and pavement. Again, all the garbage falls into the drain below causing the spread of vermin who come to feast on the waste dropped into the drain. Why is this allowed at all, ask the residents?
Pic: Marianne de Nazareth
The road itself cannot really be called a road with huge potholes everywhere. It has not been asphalted for years, but has been dug up several times to lay cables on the sides, making it very dangerous for pedestrians. When will it be asphalted and made decent, is the residents earnest plea.
Finally, there are no proper street lights and this posh area, as dusk approaches, descends into red -light activities. Women stand around in the dark to solicit, and cars drive up or cruise looking for pick -ups. This can be unnerving for single women walking home on the road. Street lights need to be fixed on a war footing to enable safety for all.
This is a desperate cry from all those living on Hayes Road, Richmond Town, to the big men in power who are reading this. They cry that: “We all pay our taxes; we are hard working citizens of Bangalore who are proud of our city. We are not asking for an airstrip, we are asking for basic amenities. PLEASE hear our cry and get this road fixed to the pre-2000 days. Why, oh why is that so hard?”
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