Banashankari ward caretaker on never-ending break: Locals

Manjunath Hadimani | NT

For most of us, a bell rings the moment we take the name Banashankari – that of the Banashankari Amma temple, which brings with it a sense of tranquillity. But that is not the case for residents of Banashankari Temple ward, who have been residing amidst “stinky smell, heaps of garbage, defunct or closed public toilets and fused street lights on some of its main roads. The only consolation is that most roads here are better than the roads in other wards of the city.

Most places in Banashankari Temple ward need an alarm to maintain cleanliness as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities have either become oblivious to their responsibilities or are completely negligent.

Garbage dumped on the Outer Ring Road next to a public toilet opposite the Geological Survey department’s office makes pedestrians reach out for their handkerchiefs to prevent inhaling the bad odour emanating from it.

A resident said that has been residing here for about 25 years, and “the BBMP employees, especially pourakarmikas do such a shoddy job like they had no one to answer to”.

“Street lights put up along the road do not come on, making it pitch-dark at night. Lazy and irresponsible people use the footpath like an open toilet. We can’t even blame them, for the public toilet here is always closed,’’ he said.

Many Namma Metro passengers and Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) commuters want the authorities to construct a skywalk between the Metro station and BMTC bus stop “as soon as possible”.

“The skywalk will be of immense help. I have been a regular user of public transport for 8-9 years. A path that offers a safe crossing will surely help people like me. Hope it will be built soon,” 65-year-old Krishnamurthy, a resident of Padmanabhnagar, told News Trail.

Naveen, a II PUC student, said that the skywalk would help people like him too who travel on a daily basis, so they don’t need to get down the Metro station and pass through “messy” traffic. “Sometimes, we end up missing our bus as we wait at another end for the traffic to clear,” he said.

“A skywalk will be very useful for elderly people and children, especially those who commute here daily,” said Uma, a 45-year-old homemaker, who uses public transport for her daily commute.

There are pipes lying on the main road next to the bus stop towards Sarbandepalya. No one is sure why these pipes are lying here. A shopkeeper said that he doesn’t even know who dumped the pipes on the roadside. “The pipes were dumped on the roadside at night. A two-wheeler rider nearly crashed into these pipes a few days ago, and that was not the first such instance of the kind here. The BBMP workers clear garbage for namesake. They do not clean the place properly,’’ he said.

Pointing to building that in future will be the BWSSB quarters, he said, “Look at the garbage at the entrance of what will be a civic amenity structure. See its condition even before being set up. How can we expect cleanliness from such people?”

“Every morning and evening this road is packed with vehicles. Because it is very narrow, we residents help control the traffic here most of the time,” said a local.

For reasons best known to those who operate the, most public toilets in the ward are closed. This leads to people relieving themselves in the open, which is an eyesore as much as it unbecoming of an IT city that Bengaluru is.

A pile of garbage not far from the local BBMP ward office and next to a public healthcare centre shows the apathy of the civic body. This raises the question, how will the BBMP maintain cleanliness of a ward when it cannot do so in its own backyard?

Former corporator of the ward claimed there was zero garbage during his tenure as the elected representative. “We don’t enjoy any official power now, but when we were in control, we addressed every issue of the public – be it garba