Kumaraswamy Layout: Rapid growth has taken its toll

Vasudha Zora | NT

Bengaluru: With a population of over 47,182, Kumaraswamy Layout (Ward 181) saw a rapid growth after some prominent hospitals and universities moved to this area. The layout is spread out over 1.8 sq km and is home to more than 11,881 households, and there are three playgrounds. The male and female population is 18,649 and 16,735 respectively.

The area has a substantial population of students, and many businesses have come up to cater to their needs. Many shops selling clothing, accessories, utensils, stationery, fancy decorative items, laundry and medicine have opened in the area. The layout has a variety of food outlets to cater to the mixed palates of students from across the world. But during evenings there are traffic snarls near these eateries due to numerous parked vehicles.

Akaansha Singh, a PhD student from a reputed engineering college located in the layout said, “The condition of the layout has worsened drastically. There are many blind spots where people dump garbage, most of the streets are broken or have potholes but the major issue is the traffic here. The layout has many bikers who end up causing accidents. Traffic movement during the rush hour is very slow and quite often motorists remain stuck at a place for long intervals.”

An official from the Traffic department confirmed the chaotic traffic of the layout and added that major traffic violations include rash driving, drunk driving, not wearing helmets, not using seatbelts and illegal parking of vehicles.

Naveen Gowda, a resident of the layout said, “I have lived in the layout from its initial days in my family home, we have noticed many problems here such as broken tree branch situation, lack of streetlights, poor garbage management, illegal construction, broken footpaths, blocked drainage systems, power cuts that persist every day, encroachment of pedestrians path by vendors and vehicle owners and many more. Over the years, it has only increased.”

He lamented that the authorities have done little despite many complaints by local residents. However, the situation on the Pipeline Road has seen some improvement. The area was notorious for garbage black spots, but now it has a park. However, it still is not free from the overall stench plaguing the layout.

As for garbage collection, the pourakarmikas do carry out routine collection of trash from houses, but the garbage generated by street vendors remains a problem. Many unscrupulous citizens also dump garbage at the black spots and scoot away in their vehicles. These dumps often attract cows and stray dogs.

Due to a high percentage of the youth population, the incidents of drug peddling and consumption are also high. Law enforcement authorities have witnessed a rise in such cases, and brawls and public consumption of drugs are other concerns. There are also many bars in the area and local residents complain that drunken customers create a ruckus near their houses.

The police carry out routine checks at these watering holes to ensure that they close on time and trouble makers are rounded up. The civic authorities told News Trail that the parking issue is being taken care of currently and it would improve the overall traffic flow.

They said that the garbage collection takes place regularly and more interventions are underway to improve the condition of the layout. Kumaraswamy Layout comes under the Padmanabhanagar assembly constituency and the local Corporator is H Suresh.