BENGALURU: The eight-decade-old tiled roofs of the houses in the police quarters on Mysuru Road, which were once used as stables for horses of the Mounted Police, looked beautiful during their heyday. But today, although police constables live there with their families, it remains neglected with holes in the roofs which are plugged using polythene sheets or flexes to stave off sun and rain.
Located near Sirsi Circle Flyover, several such ‘former’ stables are seen with polythene sheets on their roofs. There are close to 400 houses, most of them occupied by families of constables and over 2,000 residents stay there paying 18% of their salary as rent.
Spread across five acres, these tiny houses are said to be constructed in the 1940s on the orders of the Mysore Maharaja for the Mounted Police and were used as horse stables.
“In 1968, it was in a dilapidated condition and was planned to be razed ... but till date, nothing has been done,’’ a police constable said. “It has been close to 80 years. There are no horses now ... only us living with our parents and children,’’ Suresh (name changed), one of the residents, said. “We are living in sheds where animals once lived. These are modified slightly inside after we constructed walls inside as partitions between the kitchen and the living room,’’ Suresh’s wife said.
“Almost all the houses here have patch works on the roofs. The roof tiles are broken ... sunlight and rainwater enter homes. To cover this, we use polythene sheets. Some people who cannot afford it are using flex banners,’’ Sudarshan (name changed) said.
“We were told they have carried out repair works at a cost of Rs 4 lakh per house. But we don’t see the result. We still live in leaking houses. Only a few houses were painted in the front,’’ said a constable. Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd chief engineer Aijaz Hussain said they do not take up repair and maintenance works, but only construct new ones.
However, a senior official from the Police Department said they had identified some houses which needed repair and Rs 2.5 crore was needed to repair them. A proposal has been sent to the DG office from Bengaluru Police Commissioner’s office. “Once it gets approval, we will take up the repair work,’’ he said.
But whether that will finally see the light of day — only time will tell.
Until then, it is back to polythene sheets for the residents this monsoon season.