Rhenius street: Renovation work still a dream

The project commenced in January after BBMP agreed for 25 per cent cost escalation

Pot-hole ridden road with construction materials strewn around, precarious live high-tension cables on the road and foul smell welcome people visiting the Street. This could have been one of the ‘developed’ roads in the City, if things had proceeded as planned.
The shops along side the road have become inaccessible as earth has been dug for construction of storm water drain. The shop-keepers have put up a temporary structure to bridge the gap.

Residents in the cross roads connecting to Rhenius Street are compelled either to take a circuitous route to reach their house or park their vehicles on the Rhenius Street. As a result, traffic jam on the street has become order of the day.

It all happened due to the ‘developmental work’ undertaken by the BBMP to give a facelift to the Rhenius Street. The Palike had awarded the contract to improve the road and pavement in the Street, at an estimated cost of Rs 98.50 lakh.

The work should have been completed by February 28 last year. For the reasons better known to the BBMP authorities, the work did not commence at all. The project took rebirth on Jan 6 this year, with a revised estimate of Rs 1.24 crore - a cost escalation of 25 pc - over the previous one, with May 16 as the deadline. However the snail’s pace of work rises doubts on the honouring of the deadline.

Repeated pleas submitted to BBMP by The Citizens’ Welfare Association of Richmond Town and Langford Town have proved unsuccessful. “The work is still incomplete and may not finish by May 16. Not only the residents but the users of this road are also facing enormous difficulties,” said Wing Commodore MR Shirazi who is fighting for this cause.

Shoddy work

Charging the contractor with not maintaining standards, he said that the height of box drains are not uniform and surface of vertical side-walls of the drains are uneven. They will crumble down once slabs are laid, he said.

When contacted, the Additional Commissioner of East Zone S Puttaswamy attributed the state of affairs to some engineers colluding with contractors.

 “Several warning letters have been issued to the engineers and the contractors. We will look into the case seriously and get the works done in an appropriate manner,” he said.