BENGALURU: Tired with heavy traffic movement on 18 feet Hulimavu-Begur Road that connects Bannerghatta Road and Begur, residents knock on the doors of the municipal corporation with a proposal to give up their properties for road widening. Around 40 property owners in Hulimavu, along Bannerghatta Road, are ready to accept Transferable Development Rights (TDR). The ward corporator says the authorities are not showing any interest in issuing them TDR even though the budget of `1 crore is ready.
The Hulimavu-Begur Road is 1 km long and is said to be DLF and Heeranandani apartment residents’ only way to reach Bannerghatta Road. The road is also used by commuters who travel from JP Nagar, Puttenahalli and surrounding areas to Begur and Hosur Road. Hence, there is heavy traffic on the narrow road especially in mornings and evenings, say residents. As the road is narrow, their houses also get flooded in monsoons, they add.
The residents have been complaining of the issue since 2013. They claim they have submitted the proposal to BBMP officials multiple times, but all in vain. However, according to some local residents, the BBMP had started work in 2014, promising residents that it will issue the TDR after the work. But the work came to a halt when the property owners demanded the TDR first. Since then, they say, BBMP has been neglecting the issue.
T R Srinivas Reddy, a resident and property owner, offered 15,000 sq ft of land to BBMP. He said, “We want this road to be widened as it is very narrow. The entire road gets congested in peak hours as this is the only road that connects apartment residents to Bannerghatta Road and the surrounding areas for their daily commute. Our proposals and submissions have not been attended to by the BBMP,” he said.
H C Naveen Kumar, another resident and property owner, said, “We have been demanding the road widening since 2013. In many areas, the property owners have been refusing to give up the land in exchange of TDR but despite efforts from us for the good of this area, the BBMP has gone unanswered. If the road is widened it will benefit many people here. It will also avoid the flooding of houses during rains. Residents here are ready for giving up about two and half acres of the land for cause,” he said.
Bhagyalakshmi Murali, corporator of Arakere Ward, said, “The residents have already agreed for the project and interestingly, they have come forward to give up their land for TDR too. I have also got the budget of `1 crore for this project. But the BBMP is not showing any interest in the matter.
In many areas, the BBMP finds it difficult to take up the work as property owners don’t accept the TDR. But here, despite residents being ready, the BBMP is not willing to issue them the TDR. We also met the mayor and commissioner in this regard but not action has been taken.” When CE contacted BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, he was not available for comments.