How Bengaluru's long-delayed Peripheral Ring Road is playing with people’s lives

The long-delayed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) has upended many lives in unimaginable ways.

For N S Srinivasan, who is nearly 90 years old, the PRR project is nothing short of a nightmare.

After working in finance and management sectors, Srinivasan settled down with his wife Savitri Srinivasan in New Thippasandra, East Bengaluru, for what he hoped would be a peaceful, quiet retired life.

To cushion the economic impact of retirement, he bought two plots of land in Telecom Layout, North Bengaluru. He hoped that returns from the land investment would take care of his retirement years. Expenses started to rise after his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2000. But things were still under control.

Read | Private firm may build PRR, collect toll for 50 years

The situation began to change after the BDA issued a notification in 2007 to acquire land parcels for the PRR. Srinivasan’s two plots were among them.

Fourteen years later, the BDA has yet to actually acquire the land and pay the owners because the PRR project has remained on paper. The government says it cannot build the PRR on its own way given the high cost (approximately Rs 20,000 crore).

Srinivasan’s land investment is now stuck because nobody wants to buy the properties. And expenses are mounting.

“I am staring at a crisis,” he said. His savings are depleting fast. Besides paying for his wife’s medical expenses, he also has to spend Rs 25,000 a month on his younger brother, who stays in an old age home.

Adding to these are Srinivasan’s own age-related issues, which make it difficult for him to run from one office to another seeking resolution of the matter. “I am a super senior citizen. I suffer from severe back pain and several age-related health issues. I manage all my affairs from home because I cannot walk freely,” he said.

Srinivasan said the land investment would have helped him tide over the crisis. “I need money because I don’t want to become helpless. I want to take care of my wife till the very end,” he said.

Stating that he doesn’t want his photograph published, he said: “I don’t need sympathy from authorities. I only want them to respect my rights.”

A source in the government said the PRR issue could be resolved soon. “The final proposal on undertaking the PRR project in public-private partnership has been sent to the cabinet. The issue will be resolved once the government takes a decision,” the source said, acknowledging that the delay in land acquisition has affected many people.

Watch latest videos by DH here: