Ballari village sees a new dawn in bus connectivity

As the country is looking towards hyperloop and bullet train as new-age modes of transport, here is a village in Ballari district that has only now got its first bus service.

BALLARI: As the country is looking towards hyperloop and bullet train as new-age modes of transport, to show a bright face on the global map, here is a village in Ballari district that has only now got its first bus service. And this has happened nearly 71 years after Independence. Interestingly, many people, including elected representatives, are not even aware of the existence of this village.

July 13 was a memorable for the people of Kalenhalli, a tiny village in Hoovinahadagali taluk.The residents who were all in a celebration mood distributed sweets. It has been a long-pending dream of the residents to get bus service to their village, which has a population of 250 people and 30-40 houses.

“Though several memorandums were submitted to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) authorities, there was no response. The villagers, most of them belonging to backward communities, had a tough time since last 30 years as they had to walk every day in the absence of bus service. The nearest bus stop is 4-km away from our village. Some of us have been using motorbikes since last 10 years,” said Bhimappa, a resident.

“Before that, we used to walk to Hoovinahadagali, which is about 5-6 km away. During our school days, we used to walk all the way to schools,” Nagraj, another resident, told Express.“Whenever it rains, the black alluvial soil here becomes soggy, making it difficult to walk along even roads, which in any case are pothole-ridden, so we wade through them by keeping our bags with books on our heads and chappals in our hands,” says Hallesh.

“The only mode of transport in the village earlier was bullock carts and we had a tough time to take the patients to hospital on  bullock carts,” said Nagraj, another elderly from the village.

I came to know about it in 2013: MLA

Kalenhalli is a remote village and I came to know about it in 2013. I spoke to the villagers and learnt about their problems. As promised, they now have roads, drinking water and irrigation facilities. My aim is to ensure that none of the villages in my constituency suffer without infrastructure.