BENGALURU: They work for powerful people and stay just stone’s throw away from the chief minister’s office Krisha and residence Anugraha. “But we seem so powerless,” say Group D employees staying in these quarters, which have leaky roofs, moldy and cracked walls, broken doors and slippery roads.
While ministers and opposition leaders spend crores of rupees of taxpayers’ money on upgrading their government-provided houses, buying new furniture and making their accommodation Vaastu compliant, here are these lower-run staffers, working as drivers, cooks and watchmen at the residences of their political bosses, who live with barely minimum facilities.
Around 40 houses of these support and housekeeping staff sit on a prime land of 2.5 acres off Kumara Krupa Road. But the quarters that were built over 60 years ago have not seen any maintenance over the decades. The drainage leaks most of the time and the roads leading to the houses are slippery and dangerous.
‘Close to powerhouses, yet powerless’
The New Indian Express team, which visited the place, found that many houses have either the tile or asbestos sheet roof, while only a few have the concrete roof. Almost all the houses leak when it rains and have fungus and plants growing all over the walls.
Heavy water seepage and cracks can be seen in the structures. “When it rains, we keep buckets and vessels inside the house,” said a resident, requesting anonymity. The sewage lines laid years ago are chocked and the drain keeps overflowing.
All these issues are because of lack of maintenance, the residents complained. “We are close to the powerhouses and work closely with powerful people, but we are so powerless,’’ said another resident. They do get regular water and power supply.
But apart from that, the other basic amenities are all pathetic, he complained. When the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah proposed to build the Constitution Club at Balabrooie Guesthouse, there were protests. The government had then considered locating the club at this 2.5-acre plot, where the Group D employees stay. But recently, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai again said that the Club will come up at Balabrooie Guesthouse, triggering protests from environmentalists.