Residents protest illegal road digging

By Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Residents of Sanjay Nagar and Radhakrishna Temple wards have been running pillar to post to prevent illegal digging of roads by telecom service providers. Fed up with the apathy of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities, they staged a protest on Saturday to draw the authorities’ attention.

“We have been escalating the unauthorised digging of roads with the BBMP authorities all these years. The problem has become worse for the last three months. We have no other option than staging a protest,’’ said Vignan Gowda, a member of Sanjay Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.

“We carrried out a silent protest since the BBMP authorities have not responded to our complaints against the unauthorised digging of roads by private telecom service providers. We have brought this issue to the BBMP Special Commissioner Manojkumar Jain and other BBMP officials. One person committing to fill potholes and other encouraging unauthorised digging. In between, residents are meeting with road accidents,’’ said a resident.

Demanding the BBMP authorities to take measures to end unauthorised digging of roads, Geeta Girish, president , KEB Residents’ Welfare Association has said that arrangements were made to involve around 50 residents in the protest. She said that the residents have been demanding the telecom service providers, who claim that they have permission from the BBMP authorities, to produce the permission letters but none of them have produced the documents. “We had advised the residents to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) - wearing face masks, andmaintaining social distance- while taking part in the protest,’’ she said.