BENGALURU: Wednesday marked a major achievement for the residents of Halanayakanahalli off Sarjapur Road. After relentlessly pursuing the need for a motorable main road for nearly six years, the 250 potholes dotting the 3-km road were filled up after three days of work.
Following threats from citizens that the property tax would not be paid, 15 members of the Halanayakanahalli panchayat paid nearly Rs 5 lakh out of their own pockets.
The road in question, called the Doddakannahalli-Chikkanayakanahalli Main Road is a short cut from Whitefield/Bellandur via Gatahalli to Electronic City by passing the Outer Ring Road. Incidentally, it falls under the Mahadevapura Zone, the highest tax payers out of all BBMP zones.
A local volunteer group, Citizens Movement East Bengaluru led the demand for a road for the nearly 8,000 families dotting this stretch and was fully supported by many smaller volunteer groups in the area.
Citizens Movement volunteer Arif Mudgal told TNIE, “The road was laid six years ago. Many IT professionals have purchased homes here. We have been knocking at the doors of literally everyone to help us for some years. We met Aravind Limbavalli when he was the MLA of Mahadevapura and then his wife Manjula S Limbavalli recently who told us funds were not earmarked for it. We visited DCM DK Shivakumar’s office in the Vidhana Soudha and left a petition in his office after we could not meet him.” In the past, the group has pooled money from the residents and filled up the potholes with wet mix.
“This time we have been telling the Panchayat that the property tax will not be paid by any of us if the road is not set right. We also kept stressing that we were planning major protests over the issue,” he added.
Finally, the Panchayat members decided to rectify the road although it came under the purview of the PWD department.
Work stretched through two consecutive days and was completed on December 12.
Savitha Reddy is the president of Halanayakanahalli panchayat. Her husband V Babu Reddy said, “We spent a total of Rs 5 lakh to fill up the potholes with wet mix and cement, hiring tractors and pay the labourers. Our family gave the major share and the other panchayat members too contributed.” A private builder, Adarsh Builders, has agreed to asphalt it free of charge in public interest.