The Hindu : Bad roads, congestion greet Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 07, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bad roads, congestion greet Minister

The Minister for Bangalore Development, Ramalinga Reddy (right), inspecting work on Kempambudhi Lake in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE JAN. 6. Bad roads, congestion, and lack of water supply and sanitation facilities greeted the Minister for Bangalore Development, Ramalinga Reddy, when he visited the development project sites in Basavanagudi Assembly constituency on Tuesday.

This was his second visit to the project sites after he took over the portfolio. He visited Yelahanka Assembly constituency a few days ago.

Residents of Kalidas Nagar in Srinagar Ward told the Minister that roads in their area had not been asphalted for 25 years. People living in SBM Colony pointed out that their locality lacked lung space.

Citizens in some other areas complained that they had not been getting drinking water while poor sanitation was a common complaint in the vicinity of Kempambudhi Lake.

A few years ago, the residents of Kalidas Nagar paved the roads to their areas on their own and resorted to illegal water connections hoping to attract the Government's attention. But there was no response from it.

Aradhya, a resident of the area, said: "Roads in our neighbourhood have been asphalted time and again. But we are left to fend for ourselves."

The Minister promised to take up work under a Rs. 112-crore road improvement project being finalised for the city. He directed the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to look for land where the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) could construct a water pump house.

The SBM Colony residents alleged that a private school had encroached upon three acres of land earmarked for a park. The BMP Commissioner, M.R. Sreenivas Murthy, said the land belonged to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and he would write to it seeking its handover for development of a park. Mr. Reddy visited Kempambudi Lake, which is being rejuvenated by the BWSSB at a cost of Rs. 1.35 crore.

The Minister told presspersons that one million cubic feet of water from the water treatment plant nearby would be pumped into the lake by March 1. The residents of areas around the lake told the Minister about the formation of silt discharged from slums and dumping of waste by the BMP.

The Minister and the Mayor, P.R. Ramesh, expressed their displeasure over the quality of cement slabs used for paving pathways as part of the renovation of M.N. Krishna Rao Park in Basavanagudi.

M.N. Vidyashankar, Chairman of the BWSSB, agreed to the suggestion to shift the board's office located in a heritage building adjoining the park.

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