Yelahanka residents, children of a lesser grid

Unscheduled power cuts for more than 10 hours a day have made life miserable in Yelahanka.

The woes of the residents came to the fore during Janaspandana, an interactive programme between residents and officials, organised by Deccan Herald and Prajavani at the Seshadripuram College in Yelahanka New Town on Saturday. 

C Ramesh of Yelahanka Satellite Town sought to know from the Bescom officials the reason behind intermittent power supply.

Ramesh said, “There have been too many unscheduled power cuts in our ward in the last two months. The problem is not attended to, despite our complaints”.S R Vishwanath, Yelahanka BJP MLA, told the audience that the problem was not restricted to one ward, but all four wards in his constituency.

“The Wheel and Axle Factory had a diesel power plant which used to supply electricity to many parts of Yelahanka town. Owing to the protest over the pollution it caused, the plant was shut down and thus our power woes started. Whenever there is a power cut, 25,000 weavers go out of work,” said the MLA.

Bad roads, ugly pavements, garbage, stray dogs and cattle, law and order problems, streetlights, traffic woes are other problems that residents of Yelahanka face.

Arun C Sharma of Citizens’ Forum highlighted the problems of uncleared garbage, pathetic state of footpaths and stray dogs. Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner of Yelahanka zone, admitted that the garbage contractor BVG India had failed to live up to the expectation. He assured that he would see to it that the garbage would be cleared. 

An official from the Animal Husbandry section of BBMP accepted that the animal birth control programme had come to a halt in the last few months for not paying the dues to non-government organisations engaged in sterilising the dogs. Now, that the NGOs have resumed their service, the canine population may come down, the officer said.

Residents complained that sewage still flows into the Allalasandra lake, despite Palike’s claim to the contrary. Some residents complained of hefty bills from  the BWSSB.

Fleecing by auto drivers, weeds in vacant sites, incidents of chain-snatching, khata woes of apartments and bars creating nuisance were some of the complaints raised during Janaspandana.