Yet again zero coordination among agencies drains effort, money

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A newly asphalted road in Jeevanbima Nagar has been dug up again within 24 hours of completion. The road has been dug up by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to install underground water pipelines.

Activists are enraged by this action and have alleged that there is no coordination between the civic agencies in the city.

Kamran, a citizen activist says, “15 years of asphalting a road only to be dug up again by BWSSB in less than 24 hours just shows that there is no coordination between the departments. One department starts building something and by the time it’s completed the other department comes to ruin the work. This is wastage of hard earned tax payer’s money. And not only that, but it also causes a lot of inconvenience to people who travel or live in the area.”

Other people in the city say that this is just not the case with Jeevanbima Nagar but rather the entire city is a victim of inefficient planning. “There is nothing surprising in it. There are many similar areas in Whitefield and Nallaurhalli as well.

BWSSB and BBMP need to have a meeting about this. And they should start working on how to coordinate well. This is disheartening to see that the money you have paid to the government is not being utilised well. There is also an element of corruption in these works. Most of the work is incomplete because contractors and the authorities have taken money,” says Ranjith Ramchandran, a resident of the city.

While some activists feel that the issue is not as simple as inter agency coordination but rather this is happening due to corruption.

“All roads in Bengaluru are bad and it is not due to lack of coordination but rather because these contractors have paid a lot of money to the authorities. Also these departments have to show it on paper that some or the other work is happening otherwise they won’t get the money. How come they spent crores of money in building a road and it can’t last even for a day,” says a local activist, Apoorwa Mirajkar.