BENGALURU: A handful of site allottees of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout (NPKL) who have dared to build their dream houses in the locality have literally been under house arrest over the past few days. With the recent rain having turned the half-done roads into slushy stretches, they fear slipping and skidding as some of their neighbours have already.
Nagendra (name changed), a resident of 5th Block, F Sector, NPKL, said, “Two or three days of rain has ruined our lives. We’re unable to come out of our homes. Saturday morning, I stepped out of my home to get milk and ended up slipping on the slushy road. When I fell down, there was no help or rescue. It is literally house arrest for us.”
Only 26 of the 26,000 allottees have built houses on their plots, given the poor state of basic amenities such as roads, water, and electricity in the layout, developed by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). If fact, not all who have built houses have moved in. Those who have moved in say the BDA’s approach has been nothing but rubbing salt into their wounds.
The allottees are particularly miffed with the “nonchalant observations” of BDA chairman NA Haris during his recent visit to the layout. “The complaints will be valid only if people start living in the layout and all the complaints will be resolved when they occupy the layout, which has been formed by adhering to high standards,” he had said.
Site allottee Gajendra lamented that the amenities are of such poor quality he has had to abandon midway the construction of his house. “We started the construction in Feb, but now work has been stopped completely as it is impossible to transport building materials to my site. It’s very difficult for humans to walk on the muddy and slippery roads. I’ve fallen thrice. How can vehicles with heavy building materials move?” he asked.
He said BDA, which had promised a layout of world standards, has turned thick-skinned and failed to understand the allottees’ pain.
3 tenders, little work done
AS Surya Kiran, joint secretary of NPKL Open Forum, dismissed the BDA’s claims it has completed 80% of infrastructure work at the layout. “That the completed works aren’t helping even a single site owner who has completed construction of his or her house or who has started construction will say loads about the situation on the ground. Soil stabilization and wet mix works are happening only in Block 7. Even though three separate tenders were floated and three companies got work orders, many works are pending,” he said.
According to him, there are no motorable roads, power supply from BDA’s electrical network, water supply, underground drainage.
BDA commissioner N Jayaram explained to TOI: “Work is now in progress, soil stabilization work is going on in a few blocks, it will be completed in a few days. I will attend to the slippery roads right away.”
Meanwhile, Haris claimed that a motorable alternative road is available to the site allottees. “Our engineering team visited the place Saturday evening and showed the residents the alternative road leading to the main road. After the completion of electrical and utility work, soil stabilization work will be carried out. However, I’ll check the issue again on Monday,” he said.
