Prolonged infrastructure works, the torture of Bengalureans

New Indian Express

5 hours ago

BENGALURU: A slew of works are ongoing across Bengaluru. These are infrastructure works, which were supposed to be completed before the onset of monsoons. But that never happened. The monsoons are here, and Bengaluru is witnessing roads scraped for white-topping (works worth around Rs 2,000 crore) by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), huge ditches dug to lay sewage and drain pipes by Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and laying of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) cables.
All these works have been delayed through bureaucratic hurdles, heaping miseries upon the citizens, mainly the residents of the localities where these works have been taken up and have remained 'ongoing' for months on end – that too in a city that is 'famous' for its lack of footpaths for its citizens to walk on safely.
The effect of these delays is such that even BMTC routes have been forced to be altered, and buses now have to move on alternative– but already congested – roads.
Procuring police permissions to commence the works, shifting of utilities to make way for the works, and contractors engaged with multiple prior works have caused these delays, even as work stoppages are common due to rains, only further delaying their completion.
The other problem staring at these works is the pending payments from the civic agencies to the contractors, which is a constant threat for works to be stopped mid-way.
As the delays are thrust upon the people in the name of beautifying Bengaluru, the problems of the citizens only persist. Many city areas where huge ditches have remained open and roads stripped of their surface layers to remain closed for traffic movement for months on end, people – especially senior citizens and children – silently suffer, wondering when normalcy would return post these abnormal delays.