Open letter to BTM layout MLA from BAF-BTM cluster

Points subsequently added on to the petition on behalf of St John's Wood RWA (our member), pertaining to their area: 

 

1) On the Tavarekere and BTM areas, garbage is being dumped in all the by-lanes. The residents of Prestige St. John’s Wood, senior citizens of Augustine Nivas Old-Age Home, St John’s Staff Quarters, and surrounding areas are badly affected.

 

2) Garbage trucks and garbage loading/unloading have resulted in the lanes being messed up. Despite keeping the Complex clean and tidy, mosquitoes and flies are invading us due to the garbage outside. When it rains, the stench is unbearable. Garbage is also being burned on these lanes.

 

3) The traffic jams on Tavarekere Road and St John’s Cross Road have become a daily feature. This is due to the white-topping work (which has been stopped indefinitely) and road-blocks in front of Forum Mall, and diverting of heavy traffic to our lanes. There have been times when the residents of PSJW have not been able to get out of the Complex gates. Patients have not been able to reach the hospital in time. Ambulances get stuck on our lanes.

 

4) There is no night patrolling by Hoysala. Nuisance by youngsters and couples have increased.

 

PS: These problems are not specific to the area alone. They have been broadly covered in the beginning of the original petition itself.

With Koramangala dug up all over, with many 'works' going on simultaneously (mostly unnecessary, and most poorly planned and executed), the sight of any kind of earth-moving equipment (and there are so many types of them), anywhere in the vicinity, has been sending the shivers down the spine of the residents.

 

So much so, last Friday evening, I got a call from a resident of "Raheja Residency" (a member of the BAF-BTM cluster) to say that, as feared, "white-topping" work had started on the 7th cross (on which they are located), beginning with the digging up of foot-paths, and in the process, the compound wall of a house has got damaged. The Raheja Residency Association members, as also the residents of independent houses along the road, were quite clear that they didn't want the "white-topping", at least as of now, even as their lives have got messed up with so much other work already going on. The Raheja Assn members told me that they had sought a meeting with the MLA, Mr Ramalinga Reddy, who had readily obliged them for a meeting at 8.30, the next morning (Saturday), and suggested that I may go along with them to submit the petition I had prepared (on behalf of the BAF-BTM cluster - check opening post), weeks ago, on all issues pertaining to the constituency, in general (but which couldn't be submitted for want of the MLA's availability, consequent on the political developments).  

 

I quickly made out a condensed version of my petition (as below, of the one in the opening post), and joined the 'Raheja' group, on Saturday morning, to meet Mr Reddy.

 

• the massive 4th block flood mitigation project, 
• white-topping of even interior roads,
• Tender-Sure projects,
• re-laying of sewage lines,
• Bescom's under-ground cable-laying,
• telecom cabling strung over trees,
• Maestrikere rejuvenation,

After hearing out the Raheja Assn members, Mr Reddy called up the BBMP Chief Engineerr cocerned, and told him to take up only as much of the work as the Raheja Assn members wanted - mostly the upgradation of the foot-paths. The Assn members pointed out that the foot-paths along the road were in an OK condition, and if any upgradation work was needed, they would rather that it be taken up in a phased manner, after many of the the other works, that are going on, are completed first. I added that we would in general prefer road works being taken up along the lines of 'TenderSure', providing for planned laying out of all ultility lines, rather than the 'white-topping' approach, where the roads tend to get dug up in weeks/ days, after laying, for attending to uitlity line repairs.

 

To this Mr Reddy's response was that many of the projects being taken up were 'centrally' funded, where the readily available funds needed to be utilised fast, failing which they would tend to lapse. My response to this was that, whether Central or State, all funds come out of tax payers' money, and prudence needs to be exercised in utilising them. Mr Reddy countered with "if you indulge in 'kirkiri' over everything I do for the constituency, I'll sit back and relax, and no work will ever get done here". I responded saying that while we do appreciate the effort he had been putting in for the 'development' of the constituency, the whole idea of development had evolved to have a different meaning altogether now. I added that, as such, we would like all future works (particularly the large ones, impacting the entire community) to be taken up, after wide consultations (at the conceptual stage itself) with all stake-holders concerned, including us in the BAF-BTM cluster, and in a most transparent manner.

 

Not quite sure how he has taken it all. Whatever, we from BAF-BTM cluster are going to be sending copies of the letter submitted to him to all the officials concerened to ensure that they get the import of it all, and act accordingly in future. 

 

While checking out something else, I got linked to my Citizen Matters report, and on browsing through the same, I noticed that there had been quite a few responses to it. But, the publisher had closed further responses, and so, I am putting them all down here:

 

Firstly, thanks to Mr Bhushan and Mr Brahmanyan for more or less endorsing what I had stated. Besides, my draft had received overall support from representatives of BAF member complexes, many of whom, while remaining rather reticent in the local Social Media circles, so far, are now beginning to speak up. And, they represent a sizable number.

 

Now, let me respond to the comments of those who didn't agree with my views.

 

On the Flyover: 

My opposition to the "Sarjapur road underpass-flyover combo project" was largely on account of lack of integration of "public transport" into the overall scheme - check here, whatever anyone else's issue was. So, I was happy to see it scrapped, and was also happy that the alternate proposal of the Egipura-KendriyaSadan flyover (which, in my scheme of things, was limited to pointing out that the traffic along this corridor was more dense, and nothing beyond that) too appeared shelved. My expectation was that with METRO establishing itself as the preferred mode of long distance commute within the city, and Koramangala being an important hub, it too will get covered sooner than later, more so with Indiranagar on one side already connected, and SilkBoard, on the other side too, in the works (please don't expect me to buy the talk of a Metro line through Koramangala being infeasible). This expectation got reinforced with the overall sentiment amongst the citizens turning against car-centric development, and the government too responding by dropping the steel flyover (to the airport) plan. It was then that a group, who were and continue to be proponents for the fly-over kind of development, went into a huddle, banded together with a handful of like-minded Koramangala citizens (deliberately keeping the likes of me out), and started pushing doubly hard to save their Koramangala flyover. The May '18 elections provided the opportunity as far as the neta's are concerned, and they showered "their blessings on their subjects" in the form of the fly-over. As far as the citizens are concerened, it has become a nightmare.