Businesses suffer at Chickpet as road work stalled for a month

Bengaluru: Traders on the bustling BVK Iyengar Road in Chickpet have been severely impacted by the delay in the white-topping and road infrastructure work by the civic authorities.

About 200 metres of the Arcot Srinivasachar Street on BVK Iyengar Road has been dug up and has remained unattended for a month. Traffic has been diverted to the other side of the road.

The dug-up road houses textile shops, eateries, restaurants, a bicycle shop, and a mosque. Traders who own and run businesses on the stretch are concerned that the situation could further worsen with the arrival of the monsoon.

While delayed road and drainage projects generally plague the whole of Bengaluru, Arcot Srinivasachar Street faces a unique challenge. The bustling area — home to Chickpet’s markets, the metro station, and religious sites — experiences high foot traffic daily. The civic works have thrown a spanner into the beehive of activities.

The traders point to the lack of coordination between civic agencies as the reason the project has stalled, causing their businesses to suffer.

“We cannot wait for the work to complete to run the business,” trade activist Sajjan Raj Mehta said. “We pay extra money to the coolies since no trucks or pickup vehicles can deliver the products ordered in bulk directly at the shopfront. It is dangerous even for the workers to carry heavy boxes amid the incomplete work.”

Amit Shah, who owns bicycle stores, admitted he has had little to no business for a month, even as he noticed higher footfall on stores at the other side of the road.

A member of Masjid-E-Sir Khazi, also known as Char Street Masjid, said: “Friday namaaz is hard to conduct with so much mud swirling around. Looks like the work is going to take a long time to complete.”

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials told DH that the white-topping work will be done once the underground drainage system and the pipelines have been installed. An official said nearly a kilometre of white-topping will be done.

“The delay is because of the intermittent rainfall in the last one week,” said an executive engineer. “White-topping will be completed within eight days, subject to the completion of pipeline works.”