BENGALURU: Residents of Cox Town struggle to walk on MM Road, while the health of patients in the local maternity hospital is impacted due to the unhygienic surroundings caused by the sale of fish, poultry and vegetables on the footpath outside.
This has been the scene for the past 24 years, with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike yet to allot stalls to tenanted shopkeepers of the old market space in the newly built one.
What has upset the locals is that the new complex was readied in 2020 but not handed over to the tenants of the original complex. Lack of power connection is stated to be the reason. Muniraj Sriramulu, organising secretary of Eshanya Bengalurina Nagarikara Kalyana Mahadvedika, a federation of 25 resident welfare associations in and around the area, told TNIE, “The 68-year-old Cox Town Market was planned for renovation in 1999 and in the same year, asbestos sheds were built by BBMP to allow shopkeepers to run their business nearby. It was finally completed in 2020 and has 27 shops, but the handover of the new shops has not yet happened.”
Of the shops, 21 need to be handed over to the old tenants.
Residents are bearing the brunt of the delay, Sriramulu said. “The health of mothers and newborns will be impacted. Also, people park vehicles on the roads to purchase from footpath stalls, causing a major traffic snarl here. Residents have repeatedly approached MLA S Raghu and BBMP officials but there is no progress,” he added.
President of Cox Town Residents’ Forum Chandrika Raju added, “There is no footpath for the public to walk on, and senior citizens have to struggle. A resident, Jayaraj Reddy, filed a petition in the High Court against the BBMP, permitting shops on footpaths the year they were built (1999) and the court ruled in his favour. However, BBMP allowed the shops to continue with business, in violation of the verdict.”
A BBMP official told TNIE, “The new complex has not yet got an electricity connection. We handed over payment to Bescom recently, and hope to get a power supply within two or three weeks. After that happens, we will immediately go ahead with the allotment process.”