A few areas under the 110 villages in North Bangalore have issues of safety, but there are also civic concerns relating to drainage and garbage.
S S Geetha from Malathhalli says there is no regular clearance of garbage which tends to accummulate.
“When garbage is cleared, it is thrown into open sites. Collected garbage for long causes hygiene problems and creates a zone of filth. If workers are called to collect garbage, they ask for Rs 10 every day. ”
Mallige P P from Ullal says there has been a change in the overall development of the area, but with some glitches.
“While the main roads are good, the cross roads have not been tarred. They have been dug for new pipes to be laid, but it has been a long time and there is no sign of the work happening soon,” says Mallige.
New layouts typically don’t have drains built immediately.
The roads are mud roads and sides of these roads are dug up to lay pipes. How fast this work will be complete depends on the interest shown by BBMP and BWSSB.
As you go towards Visvesvaraya layout, the main roads of the layout are neat and well laid out, while the interiors need development.
Yeshaswini P, a teacher from Visvesvaraya layout, says in terms of development, there has been definite improvement over the last three years in the area.
“Good work has happened in road laying and formation of the layout. Only we didn’t have Cauvery water for some time. Now we have it. So we are comfortable. But the cross roads have to be improved.”
What you get to see as you travel across Ullal and reach villages on the border of BBMP, there are huge patches of empty land fenced in some areas, not in others.
Some part of the empty patches have been turned into layouts, while other patches are boundary-less with no particular claim. If development is about growth of residential colonies and commercial development, the areas after Ullal and Malathhalli and Visvesvaraya layout have some way to go.
The government seems to be sitting on the vast tracts of land, not moving to kickstart development.
As one travels to Chikkabasti village, one of the several villages near the Nice road, the approach road isn’t great, but tarred.
Maqbool, a plastic shop vendor says the biggest problem in the village is lack of water.
“We have to depend on borewells. Certain portions have Cauvery connection, but others don’t. We are forced to depend on the public tank built at a corner and on borewells, towards villages close to Nice road. Water tankers are also used.”
Dodda Basti village too faces problem of drinking water.
The water is drawn from borewells and people have to walk to the public tank.
“The major layouts have been given water connection, but some small villages like Dodda Basti and Chikka Basti face water shortage,” says Sairam V, a shop owner.
Then comes Marutinagar, where Ali M, a resident says: “There is no Cauvery water connection. We don’t have public toilets, no drainage system. ”
