BENGALURU: Unending civic problems and missing corporators. This, in short, describes this constituency. Did we have a corporator, wondered the residents of Padmanabhanagar. In fact, this was the refrain across the wards. “How can development take place if the corporator does not even know of the problems that we face?” asked Santosh, a resident. This can be seen in the lack of cleanliness here — irregular garbage collection and unfinished road works. “It feels like we have been ignored by the BBMP. There are several places in the constituency where even basic amenities are lacking. The local body must look into these issues immediately, as several complaints in this regard have not yeilded a response,” said Kariyappa, a resident. Located in Bengaluru South, this constituency is close to the highway that connects the city to Kanakapura.
It was one o f t h e eight constituencies carved out of Uttarahalli, which was said to be the largest constituency in the country then. Surrounded by Kumaraswamy Layout, Gowdanapalya, Chennamanakere, Kathriguppe, Kadirenahalli, Uttarahalli and Chikkalasandra, it is home to the iconic Banashankari temple.Several educational institutions like the Carmel School, Prarthana School, Deccan International School, Kumaran’s College and PESIT also run from here.It is also home to former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, while former deputy chief minister and BJP leader R Ashok won as an MLA from here in 2008. The Deve Gowda petrol bunk junction, one of the city’s traffic bottlenecks due to the ongoing Metro work, is a major landmark.
Mainly a residential area, the constituency also houses many commercial establishments. Residents are charitable when they say that things have improved slightly. However, they chorus that a lot more needs to be done. Take the case of Hosakerehalli which is quite dirty. It has given rise to issues like mosquito and stray dog menace. In fact, people say that it is not safe to travel at nights because one is sure to be hounded by stray dogs. They hope that at least the new netas to be elected next week will not play truant.