Are the authorities waiting for disaster to strike?

Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield is fraught with danger - street lights that don't work, giant potholes and more. A residents asks why the authorities have not responded to multiple cries for help.

The Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield stretches more than two kilometres connecting Varthur Road to Borewell Road. This area falls under Ward  84, Hagduru under Mahadevapura constituency.

This has about a thousand residential dwellings mostly in the form of flats and villas. With quite a few of them being relatively new apartments, there are at least about 600 families who are staying here at present and this number is expected cross 1,000 in the next few months. This road also is home to a beautiful lake named Sheelavanthana kere.

Giant potholes and non-functional street lights on the Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield. Pic

But sadly, there is complete lack of any civic infrastructure here for the past many years. There is no trace of a motorable road in the entire stretch – all one can see is craters of enormous sizes, and complete slush and water on rainy days.

To add to this, there are no street lights in about three entire stretches of 400 to 500 metres each. The few street lights that are in place are off most of the days, plunging the entire road to utter darkness after sunset. During rainy evenings, the road is pitch-dark, filled with dangerous and deadly craters full of water and slush, making it impossible to walk or ride a two wheeler. As a result, vehicles are forced to ply on high-beam, rendering it impossible to negotiate this stretch to get home.

To top it all, there are a couple of huge vacant plots that have hundreds of sheds to house the construction labourers of the buildings coming up in the adjoining areas. With no sanitation or drainage facility in these settlements, they bathe and wash in the open and worse, use the entire lake bank and the road near the lake for defecating. Due to open defecating on an entire bank side of the lake, residents are unable to use it for walking or any other purpose.

We have tried complaining numerous times through various channels like the BBMP Sahayaa website, ichangemy city etc, but there has been absolutely no action taken for any complaint in the last two years. Even though each of these complaints are assigned an official by BBMP, we get no response from them.

So with a pathetic road, absolute darkness after sunset and labourers who walk in groups smoking, spitting and with item numbers blaring from their phones, it has become impossible for anyone, especially ladies and senior citizens, to venture out this road alone. Women, who return from work using public transport, find it difficult to walk to reach reach their homes; a family member typically has to go to the main road each time to accompany them home. Autos refuse to ply, and even when they agree, women are apprehensive to take them since there are no street lights.

God forbid if miscreants harass someone, there is no way the others can even get to know or go to their rescue. And in case of medical emergency, the less said, the better.

In all, this is a disaster waiting to happen! If the authorities wake up only after a rape or an accidental death, it would be useless.

For many of the complaints raised by various residents on the ichangemycity portal and acknowledged by BBMP, the status is either ‘on-the-job’ or closed without confirmation. There are complaints as old as, or more than two years even. There has never been a proper response to any of the calls made to the officials assigned to each of these tickets. The calls go unattended or are given standard responses like ‘work-in-progress’.

Here are some of the complaints raised on the ichangemycity portal.

And some of them raised on BBMP’s Sahaaya online portal – bbmp.sahaaya.in.

  • 10520783 – Road and street lights
  • 10520258 – Street light
  • 10520260 – Road
  • 10520059 – Light
  • 10520039 – Road
  • 10507999 – Light
  • 10519882 – Light

We request the authorities to take up this issue and help the many families that here lead a safe life. All we are asking for is a few street lights and a motorable road. Installing about ten street lights in the areas where they are not present, and keeping the rest functional, should not cost a fortune.  

This little act will enable hundreds of people to get home safely on their own, every evening after work. This small act could possible even prevent a potential act of crime that might garner national headlines.

Related Articles

Whitefield citizens to take to streets on Nov 30th
Whitefield Shining – breaking global records!
An open letter to corporate heads by a humble Whitefield citizen

Comments:

  1. skeptic says:

    Short answer : YES. Cloaked under the guise of corruption, the people in power have been tasked to create a war zone. If not, uncle Sam will find ways to deal with Bangalore.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

,

Maharashtra cities need a mobility fix: Building roads not a solution

Mumbai and other urban centres in Maharashtra have seen a surge in vehicle ownership, while public transport needs have not been met.

Maharashtra, one of India’s most urbanised States, faces a transportation crisis that has snowballed into a public health, environmental, and economic challenge. With over half its population residing in urban areas, Maharashtra is home to 28 municipal corporations — the highest in the country. Cities like Mumbai and Pune are struggling with the relentless surge in vehicle ownership, which has led to traffic congestion, alarming pollution levels, and a steep rise in road crashes.  Despite these pressing concerns, many cities have pursued an approach focused on expanding road infrastructure, relying on flyovers and highways to absorb traffic overflow. However, experts…

Similar Story

Walkability and affordable transit ignored as elections focus on big projects in Mumbai

Political parties are harping on big-ticket projects, while hardly anyone is focusing on the city's lifelines — BEST and railways.

As the Maharashtra state elections get underway, the daily struggles of Mumbai's citizens, especially their commuting woes, seem to be overlooked in the electoral discourse. Political parties are focusing on massive infrastructure projects, sidelining the city's lifelines like the Railways and the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking in favour of the Metro Rail. Despite being partially operational, the Metro has yet to make a significant impact. Surveys reveal that 52% of Mumbaikars walk to work, yet on many roads, pedestrian infrastructure remains neglected, encroached upon, and unusable. While traffic congestion has made commuting a nightmare, trains are perennially…