Roadies wreaking havoc, rue residents

The demand for close circuit cameras in Padmanabhanagar Assembly constituency grew louder during the ‘Janaspandana – Citizens for Change’ organised by DH and Prajavani at the National College auditorium in Jayanagar on Saturday.

A large number of people turned up to air their grievances during the interactive programme. Padmanabhanagar BJP MLA R Ashoka, BBMP joint commissioner Dr Vishwanath and corporators of the ward, along with a sizeable number of officials attended the programme. Citizens demanded that CCTV cameras be installed in view of the growing incidents of crime, especially chain-snatching and wheelies. Santosh Gururaj from Ganesh Mandir ward rued that those indulging in wheelies had made their lives miserable through stunts.

Agreeing with Gururaj, Ashoka asked officials to not just penalise the offenders, but also seize their vehicles. “Book stringent cases against them. You should seize their vehicles as well. They not only risk their lives, but endanger the lives of others too. Many pedestrians had to pay with their lives due to these stunts,” said Ashoka.

Deputy Commissioner of Police of south division S D Sharanappa said most of these stunt performers are below the age of 18 years and hence, it becomes difficult to book them. He said the challenge is bigger as many of those indulging in wheelies could be into chain-snatching.

“I request the public representatives to build a consensus to instal CCTV cameras. I urge the individuals to set up these cameras at home. Recently, there was a theft of material worth Rs 1.2 crore at a house in south zone. Cameras would have helped track the criminals,” he said.
Jyothi from Chikkalsandra ward supported the installation of CCTV cameras at public places, including parks, where maximum number of chain snatchings happen.

Chandrashekhar K of BHCS Layout in Padmanabhanagar ward complained that the blind curves from Brigade Komarla to Kadirenahalli were causing accidents. He urged the authorities to build road dividers and scientific humps at blind curves to avoid accidents. He also pointed out the lack of parking space at Prarthana School in Padmanabhanagar near Kadirenahalli.

Madhu Krishna of Samanvaya Vedike said footpaths in Jayanagar had been completely encroached upon, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road. H B Srinivasa Murthy of Chikkalsandra too demanded removal of street vendors from the footpaths as pedestrians were left with no space to walk.

N S Holla of Banashankari third stage complained that the construction of stormwater drain had been left unfinished between Kanakapura Road and KR Road, leading to traffic jams. Vishwanath assured him that the work, halted for lack of funds, will resume in April first week.

Water crisis
Chandramma from Gangadharanagar near Banashankari temple rued that there was severe water crisis in her area. BWSSB officials assured her that they would sort it out in a week’s time. Prashanth from Banashankari told the officials about the accident zone near Monotype. He demanded that a bus shelter be built in front of Mega Mart near Kittur Rani Channamma Circle.

Many citizens complained there were no BengaluruOne centres in their wards, due to which they had to travel to Banashankari BDA complex to pay bills. Kishore from Kumaraswamy Layout spoke out the lack of streetlights near Blossom School. He said this could lead to accidents and chain-snatching. K L Venkatesh, secretary of the KS Layout Residents Welfare Association, too raised the issue. He also pointed out the lack of public toilets in the layout and suggested that one such facility be built inside the park.

Kumaraswamy Layout corporator L Srinivas said Rs one crore had been sanctioned to light up the entire ward. He assured them that the park would be improved and toilets would be built. H K Suresh highlighted that there was flooding at Bhuvaneshwarinagar in Chikkalsandra ward during rain. In reply, BBMP joint commissioner Vishwanath said tenders had been called for and in the second week of April, work would start to prevent flooding.

V Narayana Reddy of Kumaraswamy Layout urged the authorities to build a Samudaya Bhavan and Yoga Bhavan in Kalabhyraveshwaranagar. He complained that sewage and dumping of garbage was harming Devarakere tank in the ward. Dilip Shirolikar from Isro Layout supported Reddy. BBMP executive engineer Nagaraj assured them that he would fix the problem in 15 days.