Kasturinagar road awaits a fix even after 2 years

Y. Maheshwara Reddy | NT

Residents of Kasturinagar were happy when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) took up the restoration of 2nd Main Road two-and-half years ago. The residents used to struggle a lot to commute on this road that was dug up in 2018 for laying water pipes to supply water to those areas that were added to the BBMP in 2007.

However, the residents’ joy was short-lived. With the contractor engaged by the BBMP failing to restore the road, the residents continue to struggle a lot during their commute. The 2nd Main Road is the main link to connect to educational institutions and other areas.

“We have been paying property tax on time. We have been meeting the elected representative and the BBMP engineer to fix this problem, but in vain. The BBMP executive engineer has been avoiding to restore the road on one or the other pretext,” said Kasturinagar Residents’ Welfare Association president Venugopal Rai.

He said the residents have submitted a letter to the BBMP executive engineer recently requesting him to take up the road restoration work as early as possible, as many got injured while commuting on the 2nd Main Road. “Our MLA Raghu has assured to restore the road two and half years ago, but nothing has happened,” he said.

When informed, BBMP executive engineer has said the contractor has obtained a stay order from the court against the BBMP taking up road restoration work. “The BBMP Legal Cell has been trying to vacate the stay order. We will take up the restoration of the road as soon as the stay is vacated,” said the BBMP executive engineer.

Meanwhile, the residents are not ready to agree with the BBMP executive engineer. They opine that it is the BBMP’s responsibility to restore the road. “We met the BBMP executive engineer today. He was rude with us and not ready to discuss the pending work. He has advised us to approach the court for the restoration of the road. The engineer told us that the BBMP has blacklisted the contractor for not completing the restoration of the road,” said Kasturinagar Residents’ Welfare Association secretary Ramesh N, adding that every day one or two people get injured while commuting on this road.

The residents blame the elected representative for not evincing interest in fixing the problem. “Our MLA had assured us two-and-half years ago to restore the road within a few weeks but did nothing till date. We appeal to our MLA to make the BBMP engineer to restore the road as early as possible in the welfare of thousands of people who use this road,” said a resident on a condition of anonymity. However, MLA S Raghu was not available for comment.