Dust, delay & discontent: Residents fume over 1 year long white-topping work in BTM

Bengaluru: The biggest problem here is this road,” said Gopal, a shop owner, pointing to the half-dug-up 29th Main Road in BTM 2nd Stage, where white-topping work has been going on for nearly a year. “It’s been so long and they haven’t completed it.

No one comes to my shop because there are no streetlights — they’re still building the road,” he said. The neighbourhood on one side of the road is an EWS Colony, long a neglected stretch between Madivala Lake and the commercial zone of 16th Main Road, once anchored by the now closed Udupi Garden.

Here, the rocky main road is lined with building materials and garbage dumped on almost every corner. Cows often roam the area, scavenging or ganic waste while the Solid Waste Department struggles to keep up with collection.

Recently, however, residents said there has been a small but notice able improvement. “Since that programme where they take pictures of people dumping waste and then make them take the garbage back home, things have improved. But generally there’s always a lot of garbage here,” said Abdul Razzaq, a resident.

“People dump waste on the road. They do come to collect it, but it piles up and isn’t cleared regularly,” said another resident, Vivek. As one moves away from the white-topping site, the area begins to look better. There is no disruption in water or electricity supply — except when it rains.

Residents complained of poor roads and a lack of parking space, but as one approaches the under construction stretch, the problems multiply. “This road has created a big problem for every one here. My business has been affected and my tenants keep leaving. It kicks up so much dust, and nobody wants to deal with it,” said Mustafa, who runs a hotel on the road. He added that the on going work has blocked the drainage, causing sewage to overflow onto the surface whenever it rains.

Residents and business owners voiced deep frustration over the slow pace of the white-topping work and said that its completion would resolve many of the locality’s long standing issues.