Post date: Jun 14, 2014 8:01:18 PM
The incomplete civic works initiated in different parts of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) remains incomplete and is creating lot of tribulations for commuters and pedestrians. For last few months, the ORR wears a sorry look. Reason: Officials put the blame on contractors and say, ‘the contract kept changing’. The residents and commuters of ORR are the greatest sufferers as many development works which were mooted have been delayed due to the lethargic attitude of the concerned officials. In this stretch, both side of the storm water drain (SWD) are under construction. But due to delay in this work, stagnation of rain water has become a common phenomenon at some places. Placing of curb stones and covering of grills under the flyover has also been delayed. Currently, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials have initiated SWD work at HSR Layout and lying of curb stones at Marathahalli Bridge, simultaneously. With this initiative, the stagnation of rain water in the drain can be reduced to some extent.
When Cityplus spoke to Pradeep, Assistant Engineer, BDA, he said, “We are in the final stage of the work on ring road and the maintenance work was assigned to the previous contractor. Their term got over in the month of February. Due to which, we could not proceed in improving the condition of the road. Currently, the contractors have initiated the placing of curb stones at Marathahalli Bridge and we have assigned all the work to them. They will look into all problems like street lights, asphalting, SWD, covering of iron grills, de-silting of drains, placing of curb stones and other work has been assigned to them. We are putting lot of pressure on them to execute these works as soon as possible. I think it will take another month of time to complete the beautification of this road.”
Last year, Horticulture Department of the BDA had planted more than hundred saplings under the fly over of Iblur and Agara junction, but due to poor maintenance from the authorities most of these plants have withered away and some of them has been uprooted long back. Taking advantage of the incomplete work at ring road many drivers used to park their vehicles under the fly over near Bellandur, Iblur, Agara and HSR Layout. Of late, many slum dwellers have made their abode under the fly over near Agara Flyover.
Commenting on the horrid condition of the road, Ramesh, a resident of Iblur said, “The authorities have constructed the fly over long back on ring road to ease the traffic congestion, but the pending works like infrastructure, lying of curb stones in service roads, grills under the fly over have not been properly done by the authorities.
Echoing similar sentiments another resident said, “We cannot understand the reason behind the delay in executing the pending work. Adding to this, the constant work from different civic bodies on this road has taken toll of the residents. To resolve these problems, authorities must have comprehensive proper planning to fix it permanently, but it will take lot of time and efforts from various administrative departments.”
According to residents, improving the poor condition of infrastructure must be the first priority for the authorities.