SG Palya grapples with garbage, traffic challenges

Sowmya Raju | NT

Bengaluru: Suddugunte Palya or SG Palaya, Ward 152 of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, is a residential ward in the City Circle constituency of Bengaluru, Karnataka.

The ward has a number of schools and colleges, including Christ University, Ghousia Polytechnic College, Suddugunte Palya Government High School, Saddugunte Palya PU College, and NG Palya ITI.

There are also a number of temples and mosques in the ward. The ward also has several IT companies and offices, besides the Bengaluru Milk Union Limited.

The ward is well-connected by road and public transportation. The Hosur Road and Outer Ring Road are the main arterial roads in the ward. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) operates a number of bus services in the ward.

The ward generates a lot of garbage since it is home to a diverse population of families, students, and working professionals and is a location of several educational and commercial buildings.

But there is not enough space or a proper method to dispose of it. This had now led to garbage piling up on the street corners. Almost every street and gully in the area has a pile of garbage in a corner surrounded by insects and rodents, which is reportedly often burned, either by the residents or garbage collectors.

The ward is located on a major road, which makes it susceptible to traffic congestion. This is especially a problem during peak hours and on weekends. Private intracity buses often stop in the middle of the road to pick up and drop off passengers, which causes traffic congestion.

This is especially a problem during peak hours and on weekends. Many KSRTC buses and private buses stop to pick up passengers, which blocks the entire road and causes traffic.

A KSRTC bus driver who wishes to remain anonymous alleged, "We are made to take proper driving tests before we become drivers and we have strict working hours, but private bus drivers work long hours without proper training, which leads to rash driving. Rash driving inside the city, especially during peak hours, is extremely dangerous."

The ward lacks street lighting, which makes it hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists to walk or cycle at night.

The already existing issue of traffic congestion caused by intracity buses and heavy-duty vehicles is exacerbated by the lack of streetlights, especially at night when individual twowheelers and four-wheelers tend to speed.

One person who commutes daily to a private company in the area said, "It has been over two weeks since the lights went out, and they still haven't been fixed. If this is the case on main roads in the city, I can only imagine how bad it is on low-access roads."

The pedestrian pathways in the ward are often broken and uneven, which makes it difficult for people, especially senior citizens, pregnant women, children and physically disabled people to walk safely.

The lack of proper pedestrian infrastructure, such as well-maintained pathways and streetlights, makes it difficult and dangerous for residents to walk. The permanent parking of KMF lorries on the road has created a perfect shield for public urination and drinking.

Residents of a slum opposite the KMF have expressed their concern, stating that it has become a public nuisance. One mother of two daughters said, "I prohibited my husband from drinking, hoping he would stop, but now he happily drinks behind these parked lorries and comes home drunk. My daughters are even scared to talk to their own father."

She added that it has become a safety issue for several women to cross that part of the road at night, as there are no streetlights and drunkards are often seen behind the vehicles.

These are just some of the significant issues in SG Palya. These issues can have a negative impact on the quality of life of the residents and can also deter investment and development in the ward.

It is essential to address these issues in order to improve the livability of SG Palya.