Asphalted road brings cheer to Kasturinagar

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: The 2nd Main of Kasturinagar wore a festive look on Tuesday morning. Residents were seen waiting, with garlands in their hands, for their elected representative to felicitate him for taking up the long-pending and the much-needed asphalting work.

“We are grateful to our MLA S Raghu for inaugurating the asphalting work on 2nd Main Road. It has been pending for a quite long time due to various reasons. We are happy with the commencement of the asphalting work. We have requested our MLA to asphalt other roads that are in bad condition in the area,’’ said Kasturinagar Welfare Association president Venugopal Rai.

He said the roadside drains in the area needed to be desilted. “Desilting of drains has been pending for eight years,” he said.

The 2nd Main Road was dug up for laying Cauvery water pipes to supply drinking water to 110 villages that were added to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The digging of the road began in 2017 and the road was to be restored by September 2018, but got delayed.

It had prompted the residents to stage a protest in September 2019 demanding the BBMP authorities to restore the road. Later, MLA S Raghu visited the area and assured the residents to take up the asphalting work, but again Covid pandemic became a hurdle to begin the asphalting work.

“I have requested our MLA to develop a walking path at a forest area and put up concrete benches for the benefit of senior citizens who visit the forest area for a walk,’’ said Kasturinagar Welfare Association secretary N Ramesh. The residents have also expressed gratitude to former deputy mayor N Dayananda for pursuing the civic problems of Kasturinagar with the BBMP authorities. Dayananda got elected to the BBMP Council from Benniganahalli ward in 2011. “I am very happy with the BBMP authorities for taking up the asphalting works. It is being done with MLA funds,” said Dayananda.

Meanwhile, CV Raman Nagar MLA S Raghu has said the asphalting work was supposed to be taken long ago, but the Covid pandemic and heavy rains have delayed it. “I will take up asphalting all the roads in Kasturinagar. Silt will be removed from roadside drains. I hope all the work will be completed in a month,” said Raghu.