Woes on eat street!

Dumping ground

Or so it was till recently. Church Street, a must on the itinerary of any visitor to Bangalore given its best restaurants and eating joints, has now become a victim of its own success.

What overpowers any visitor on Church Street is the stench that emanates from drains that are clogged with refuse from restaurants and eating joints. If one manages to settle the problem of parking, he or she is only greeted by uneven pavements where walking is a tightrope act.

Metrolife interacted with restaurant managements, people who visit Church Street and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to understand why one of the most popular streets in the City is in such a pathetic state.  

BBMP blames it all on budgetary constraints and lack of coordination among departments in getting the work done. A chief engineer with the BBMP blames the present condition of the street on Bangaloreans saying that they have no regard or respect for the place they live in. “They have a responsibility to keep the City clean without throwing garbage, spitting and urinating on the road,” he says.

Another senior official, who refused to be quoted says, “It’s true that we don’t carry out regular inspections on Church Street. When we receive a complaint, we attend to that or else why the need to go on rounds?” he asks, quite unconcerned about the problem.

When asked why nothing is being done to improve the quality of pedestrian paths and clear out drains on a regular basis, the official says, “The drainage system on Church Street is quite an old one and we have warned the restaurant owners on the street to dispose garbage efficiently but some people continue to dump it on the roadside and in drains. Is it possible for us to keep guard and make sure people don’t dump garbage?” he asks.

The restaurant owners on Church Street confess that there are days when the stench from the drains is unbearable. And people continue to urinate on the walls that have been newly painted, the footpath slabs go missing overnight and officials don’t even make an attempt to replace it, they say.

Ramprasad, an engineer with the maintenence division of Brigade Gardens that houses a restaurant and a couple of offices says, “The drains get clogged on a regular basis and the stench gets unbearable sometimes. When we complain to the BBMP, they react only after a few days. The drainage system on this street is an old one and nothing has been done to widen it.”

Amit, manager of another posh restaurant on Church Street, says, “We make sure we dispose the garbage early morning in vans that come to pick it up. The restaurant is at a height and the drains have been designed for easy movement and our staff has been instructed to refrain from clogging the drains.”   

People, who were once regulars to Church Street, say they now think twice before coming here. Lack of proper parking space and the Metro construction has forced them to find something closer to their offices or homes. Prashanth Rao, an IT professional says, “I used to enjoy driving down to Church Street but now with lack of parking space, traffic jams and dust, I prefer to find something on my side of town, near South Bangalore.”

Sudhindra, another IT professional, who used to regularly dine out with his friends on Church Street, says there was a time when he would eat at Church Street and walk down the boulevard on MG Road. “The boulevard has disappeared and what’s left is traffic jams and dust. That’s why I hardly come to this side of town,” he sums up.