JOIN USBasic amenities seem a luxury in Begur
As the core area of Bengaluru prospers with loads of amenities added on an almost daily basis, the 110 villages included in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike fold eight years ago still crave for basic facilities. One such village is Begur, which is crying for official attention.
On Saturday, Deccan Herald and its sister publication Prajavani, a prominent Kannada daily of Karnataka, organised ‘Janaspandana,’ an event offering a platform to the common citizens to directly interact with a host of officials and public representatives and air their grievances. Besides ward corporator M Srinivas from JD(S), Joint Commissioner of Bommanahalli zone N Muniraju and a host of officials from different departments were present.
The programme brought to fore civic problems plaguing the ward such as bad roads, poor drainage system, stray dog menace, absence of playgrounds and parks, encroachment of Begur lake, its stormwater drains, flooding, lack of bus shelters and insufficient bus services and illegal khatas.
The event formally started with K Prakash of Noble Residency Layout complaining that the roads are in bad shape. He said no initiative had been taken to upgrade and widen the Bannerghatta-Begur-Koppa Road. Also, the authorities have not taken any measure to provide an alternative road. He highlighted the poor drinking water facility in the ward.
Corporator Srinivas promised that he had been toiling to get the road and water related problems sorted out.
Regarding the water problem, BWSSB executive engineer G Prabhakar said a detailed project report for Rs 5,020 crore had been sent to the State government for the project to lay pipelines to provide Cauvery water connection to all the newly added areas.
He said, “It all depends on how quickly the BWSSB executes the work. Until then, borewells are the only remedy.”
The reply did not satisfy corporator Srinivas. He said, “I have met BWSSB officials but they give only assurances. There is no need to spend Rs 5,020 crore in one go. Accomplish the water supply projects in a phased manner. All that we request you is supply Cauvery water in Begur once a week.
Prashanth K Joshi of Classic Layout demanded at least four playgrounds and parks as there is no lung space in the entire ward. As the Palike officials cited lack of funds and water, Joshi said a tree park in the ward would be sufficient.
Another citizen B R Venugopal highlighted the severe garbage problem and demanded a garbage processing unit in the ward. This suggestion drew the attention of BBMP joint commissioner Muniraju, who said he would surely take the initiative to provide a garbage processing unit in the ward.
To a complaint that the segregation of waste had gone for a toss as pourakarmikas do not have separate garbage bins to collect segregated waste, the Palike officer asked residents to Whatsapp him pictures if they come across pourakarmikas collecting waste without separate bins.
A major complaint came from Vishwapriya Layout. The residents said that they did not have proper roads and drainage system in the ward. They complained that due to the poor waste collection, stray dog and pig menace had intensified.
While K Subbanna of Chikka Begur demanded more buses to Majestic, Jayanagar, Banashankari and KR Market, another resident highlighted the lack of bus shelters.
Among other major demands were clearing Begur lake and its stormwater drains of encroachment, eradicating fake khatas and resolving the problems of heavy movement of trucks and tankers, flooding of houses during rainy season, especially in MICO Layout, Vishwapriya Layout and some revenue layouts.
An Anganwadi worker highlighted the dilapidated condition of the Anganwadi building in Begur, which may collapse any time.