A city sans development

With the appointment of the new district in-charge minister for Chikkaballapur district, the citizens are now hoping for the better.

After being ‘orphaned’ for a brief period without a district in-charge minister, and now that a new in-charge minister has been appointed, it is now hoping that the City will once again be on the paths of progress.

The newly appointed District In-charge Minister, A Narayanswamy had recently visited the district.


During his visit, he had assured that all the development works will be implemented as early as possible in the district. However, people are worried over the fact that will the development take place on a war-footing basis and will the City boast of a ‘developed’ tag.

Going by the number of tasks which are required to be addressed in the City, like the shifting of the old bus stand which is at present in the heart of the City, rejuvenation of Chennaiah Garden, development of roads, toilet facilities on the roadsides, clearing of the encroached footpaths, evacuation of the encroached lands, and many more tasks which are required to be completed. The public are sceptical whether these projects will be completed within a year’s time.

Thick competition
Though a new bus stand has been constructed on the outskirts of the City, most of the KSRTC buses and the private buses continue to halt at the old bus stand. The auto rickshaw stand and the fruit traders continue to remain outside the old bus stand.

There is a tough competition between the KSRTC buses and the privates buses to woo the commuters. A large crowd gathers in and around the old bus stand, leading to utter chaos and confusion. This is extremely troublesome for the commuters who travel every day. Since the present bus stand was proving to be congested, a new bus stand had been constructed. But relocation of all the bus services was yet to take place.

An eyesore
The Chennaiah Garden could have been an attractive landmark of Chikkaballapur City. Subject to gross neglect and lack of maintenance, the garden has turned into an eyesore.

According to Lakshminarayan, employed with a private firm, the roads need to be maintained properly and the garbage requires to be collected regularly, he added. Traffic was increasing by the day and so were the number of accidents. At least now the district administration should wake up and implement some serious measures, said trader Munegowda.

Faulty lights
So is the fate of the streetlights and traffic lights. The traffic signals at Shidlaghatta Circle, the prominent spot in the City, has faulty lights. For the last four months, they have not been repaired.

Coming to the most important infrastructure, the drinking water problem. The citizens had been promised that water from the Jakkalamadagu reservoir will be supplied. But the assurance has remained only on the papers.

“Within a year’s span, four district in-charge ministers have changed. All the promises and assurances continue to remain only on the papers. They are never materialised, opines Lakshminarayan.