For years the large Civic Amenity (CA) site next to the HSR Layout BDA Complex in Sector 7 has perhaps been jockeyed for by politicians and other ‘privileged’ and ‘connected’ citizens of Bengaluru. Given the dizzying number of zeroes involved in a property so ‘prime’ and so large, the CA site although ideal for the construction of a large public transport terminus (BMTC and other) in the area, will see no such outcome.

Information we have is that the prime property has been handed away in three parts. One is to a trust created by a powerful politician, ostensibly to be used for an ‘educational’ purpose. The second is to another politician who has been building a large ostentatious ‘convention center’ replete with grecian pillars and the third is to a ‘community’ group.

The ostentatious convention center which is close to completion will force the relocation of the HSR BDA Complex bus stop which currently is a crucial public transport access point for people in the area. Supervisors on the construction site will blithely tell you, with a touch of pride, that the bus stop “will be moved away shortly”. Located at the corner of 17th Cross and 9th Main—the bus stop serves as the terminus for airport bus services, the K5 bus service and a few others.

HSR residents have been repeatedly appealing to the BMTC to increase the number of regular bus services here as well. But now, of course, everything is going to be ‘secondary’ to the whims of the powerful forces behind the ‘convention center’ coming up there. And commuters are clueless and likely to be inconvenienced, depending where the ‘bus stop is moved’ to.

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