JOIN USSubedar Chatram Road is among the busiest roads in Gandhinagar with trade revenue daily turnover running into crores. The trades range from jewellery to textile to some of the oldest eateries.
Ofcourse there are the potholes, but the more serious problem is the underground drainage system which clogs ever so often and particularly near the manholes. The underground drainage is networked with Link Road and first main, Seshadripuram, and consequently, there is overload of muck. And like Church Street, the muck collects on the road. This gets on to the road, with manholes having frequent leaks.
The drainage water and muck are good reasons for vested interests to flash a second bill seeking asphalting of the road. If there are complaints about the civic conditions of the road, it is largely to do with dampness created by sewage. A long-time hotel staffer on Subedar Chatram road, Jagadeesh, says: “The flow of sewage is not smooth and even. There are leakages near the manhole covers, which spillover to the road. This has to be cleared frequently to ensure there is no accummulation, which brings up frquent asphalting. How do we know how much asphalting actually happens and how much material is actually used?”
The Subedar Chatram road has been growing since the 1940s and it was in the 1970’s that businesses began to come to its fold in more variety and number. By the 1980’s and 1990’s, the street had become well-known for high volumes of business with visitors coming in from nearby towns on the district buses. And in the last decade, it has turned into one of the busiest streets in Gandhinagar and for Bangalore as a whole as well. Small businesses thrived and continue to thrive on the road, located very close to the local as well as inter-city bus station besides the city railway station.
In the British times of 1940’s, a soldier of the british army had managed to build a marriage hall and later donated the same to the government, which eventually became a community hall. Because of his spirit of social good and in recognition of his community-sensibility, the government decided to name a road after him. That’s how Subedar (soldier) Chatram (Marriage Hall) came to be the name of a road that cuts through Gandhinagar.