Dodda Bommasandra: A picture of extremes

Sanjay R Murty

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) begins many projects with lots of fanfare, but somewhere down the line apathy sets in and they remain unfinished for years.

The Palike had taken up clearing encroachments on Rajakaluve (Storm Water Drain) at Dodda Bommasandra nearly five years ago, but now it has forsaken it due to the reasons best known to it. The demolition drive had disrupted the lives of middle and lower-middle class people.

Dodda Bommasandra made headlines in 2016 when BBMP authorities demolished several buildings as part of clearing the encroachment on a Rajakaluve. The Rajakaluve runs parallel to the main road. As a result, the rear portions of buildings facing the main road were demolished. The partlydemolished shops opened again after building a new wall within the permissible area. However, the Rajakaluve has not yet been fully restored.

Veeresh runs a chicken shop in D.B. Sandra. He says that the demolition was a waste. “Even the unfinished Rajakaluve is so narrow that it could have been built without demolishing our building. We have not been compensated for this. The area has now become space for dumping garbage,” he said.

An employee of Byatarayanapura MLA’s office said the delay might be due to the prolonged legal battle for compensation. Meanwhile, the former corporator of Ward 10 said that there was no question of compensation as it is encroachment. “I have seen the Rajakaluve myself. It was quite wide. The layout developers have fooled the people by selling sites on encroached land. Officials are negligent. We have made numerous requests on various issues, but they delay action from their end” he said.

Sumitra, a resident, told News Trail that she had heard that some traders were not letting the authorities complete the Rajakaluve work. She said that the idea was to connect the Rajakaluve with another one that runs perpendicular to the main road. The second drain runs under the main road and leads to D B Sandra Lake on the other side.

Sumitra has been living in a house situated just a few metres away from this drain. “When it rains heavily, the drain overflows and sometimes dirty water reaches our house. Our house was flooded twice with water up to one-foot high,” she said.

She added that the authorities often shift the blame onto the people for residing near a stormwater drain. She also expressed concern over water shortage. “We are supplied water twice a week, but the quantity is insufficient. We depend on BBMP’s borewell on our street. In case it is faulty, we have to get it repaired ourselves,” she said.

According to her the dry and wet waste collection, however, is regular and efficient.

However, many vacant sites in the ward have been littered with lots of garbage. In addition to this, one side of the main road along D B Sandra Lake is used to transfer garbage collected by tipper autos onto trucks. Others have also begun dumping garbage here making it an ugly stretch.

Residents of Nanjappa and Chamundeshwari Layouts do not seem to have many complaints. A resident of Chamundeshwari Layout said, “There is no locality that is free of problems. We are happy here and the facilities are satisfactory.”

The Dodda Bommasandra ward is situated between Jalahalli and Vidyaranyapura localities of northern Bengaluru. In Dodda Bommasandra, one can see slums as well as wellmaintained areas. The two extremes of urban governance can be seen within a few hundred metres in this ward.

Ward 10 includes Doddabommasandra village and most of Ramachandrapura, BEL Campus as well as Chamundeshwari layout, Nanjappa layout, and other small layouts. A small part of Vidyaranyapura’s BEL Layout is in Dodda Bommasandra ward. BEL Layout 2nd Block is also where the Ward office is situated.

The approach road leading to Dodda Bommasandra through BEL is well-constructed and fairly maintained. This is mainly due to the CSR initiatives by BEL. Many internal roads need repairs as they have not been restored properly after being dug up to lay electric cables and water pipes. Vidyaranyapura Main Road through D B Sandra is narrow and the change in the width of the road leads to traffic jams.

The infamous curve near D B Sandra Arch was known for traffic snarls.