Outer Ring Road, a tale of poor infrastructure

Once a Gram Panchayat and now part of the ever expanding Bangalore, Sarjapur-Outer Ring Road is afflicted with water scarcity, poor transport facility and damaged roads.
Increased dependence on borewells has resulted in depletion of ground water. The residential complexes here shell out huge sum of money to purchase water from private tankers. The surging demand has led to formation of a cartel.

Take the example of Springfields Apartments which has 554 flats and over 6,000 residents.  At the time of purchase, the residents were promised Cauvery water supply from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. However, the promise is yet to be fulfiled as the BWSSB has not even laid the supply lines here.

Treatment plant

"We spend a huge amount on buying water as the demand is high. But after setting up our sewage treatment plant, we are using recycled water for our gardens and other purposes and reduced our expenditure by 30 percent," said Milind Chalisgaonkar, a resident of Springfields.  Sarjapur Road comes under Bellandur Ward and this area is expected to get water under Cauvery Water IV stage II phase by end of 2011.

The rapid urbanisation has resulted in a spurt of commercial activities with several malls and department stores setting shops. But roads are yet to be developed to the suit the need. Lack of footpaths and pedestrian crossings have rendered roads unsafe, particularly for children and senior citizens. Poor bus connectivity has led the people depend on private vehicles for transport. "The BMTC asks people to use bus as a solution to traffic congestion. But where are the buses?  The frequency is very less except for a few Volvos and long distance buses. We don’t mind taking a bus to office if the If BMTC increases the service," said Bhooshan Iyer, another resident.

Slew of projects

The ongoing construction of several flyovers on Sarjapur/Outer Ring Road has led to traffic diversions, in turn causing utter chaos on roads during peak hours. The Bangalore Development Authority is executing the projects.  Residents of Sun City Apartments and Sobha cannot take a right turn from their apartment gates.  "The traffic police do not allow motorists to take a right turn immediately from our apartment gates. To travel towards Kormangala, we have to cover nearly one kilometer to the left, take a U turn near Bellandur gate and then proceed further," said Kohinoor Ghosh, resident of Sun City apartments. Motorists proceeding towards Bellandur Gate from Marathhalli have to to up to Sarjapur Road, take a U turn and join the Outer Ring Road.

Most of the residents here do not know the constituency or the ward they belong to.  The area does not have its own police station, post office, hospitals, schools and government establishments.  "We wish to have a BDA complex which houses all the government offices.  We either have to go all the way to HSR Layout or Bellandur for all our needs.  We do not even have a BangaloreOne centre," said Bindhu Balan, a resident.