City Pulse

Construction of a railway underpass or flyover near LR Bande railway crossing in Kaval Byrasandra and the need for more public toilets were the key issues discussed in the Kaval Byrasandra Ward Sabha at the Bangalore One office in Hosapalya.

On 19th August 2017, the Ward Sabha for Ward No 32 (consisting of Kaval Byrasandra, Ambedkar Layout, Chinnanna Layout, Sulthanpalya, MM layout) was attended by over 70 citizens and civic agency officials. The meeting was attended by diverse group of citizens participants, women, senior citizens, working population and school students.

Members of the Ambedkar Layout Resident Welfare Association proposed the need for a flyover or underpass near the railway crossing, since it affects over 30,000 citizens on a daily basis. Responding to this, BBMP Assistant Engineer T Krishna Murthy confirmed that a proposal is submitted and the project is estimated to cost Rs 18 crore. However, dearth of funds stalled the project. Since this kind of infrastructure needs much bigger investment, ward Councillor and Chairwoman of the BBMP Standing Committee on Accounts Ms Nethra Narayan committed to take up the matter with Mr KJ George, Minster of Bengaluru Development and State Town Planning.

Not even one toilet

There is not even a single public toilet in the entire ward, pointed out members of the different RWA’s present. This drastically affected the hygiene scenario, they said and demanded that toilet construction should be taken up in the 2017 budget allotted.

While the Councillor assured to construct toilets this year, Krishna Murthy said that Swachha Bharat Grant has been allotted for the work. However, places to construct toilets are yet to be identified. He welcomed the different RWA’s to come up with suggestions.

Other proposals

Rs 3 crore has been allotted from the MLA’s grant to construct community hall, said the Councillor to a query raised by Ambedkar Layout RWA members. The letter to the BDA is already submitted and place needs to be identified, she added.

Chinnanna Layout RWA and Sulthanpalya RWA members stressed the need to asphalt pothole-ridden roads in the ward. Krishna Murthy said that the road repair work in Ganesha Block will start in next 15 days. For the remaining roads, tender is in process, he said.

Installation of surveillance cameras was requested by members of Chinnana Layout RWA, Kodava Sulthanpalya RWA, Lions Club of Bengaluru Adityanagar and MM Layout Welfare Association. Krishna Murthy said that the tender is in process and asked the RWAs to come up with suggestions on locations where the cameras need to be installed.

Other important issues that affected the ward such as waste management, maintenance of roads and footpaths, planting of trees, proposal for new bus routes, desilting storm water drains, irregular power supply among others were discussed.

Bala Janaagraha students demand clean surroundings

The Ward Sabha had participation from young change makers too, who raised their voice with an intent to make their ward better. Students of Bala Janaagraha from Poorna Smrithi School and Kaval Byrasandra government school highlighted the need to maintain cleanliness in the school surroundings as well as maintain the footpaths.

Many students walk to school and good footpaths ensure their safety, the said. The Councillor assured that they will have cleaner surroundings and better infrastructure.

Members who attended the Ward Sabha

Engineers of different levels from BBMP, BESCOM, BWSSB, BCP and BTP attended the meeting. MLA of Pulikeshi Nagara assembly constituency Mr R. Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy joined the Ward Sabha and spent time in interacting with the citizens once the main agenda of reviewing budgets and projects was completed. 

Members from several Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) such as Ambedkar Layout RWA, Chikkanna Layout RWA, Kodava Sultan Palya RWA, Lions Club Bengaluru Aditya Nagara, MM Layout RWA, Sultan Palya RWA were present.

In addition to the RWA members, Bala Janaagraha students and citizens who had signed up on the ichangemycity.com platform were also present.

The Ward Sabha was run with data on budgets and captured status on projects along with data on grants, tender and work order status. The minutes of the sabha will provide details of the projects discussed and contact information of all officials. Click here to read minutes of the meeting.

The Ward Sabha ended with the conclusion that a follow up meeting will be held after three months to review the work status.

About Kaval Byrasandra ward

Kaval Byrasandra ward comes is in the jurisdiction of Pulikeshi Nagara assembly constituency. The ward has approximately over 9,500 households and a population of over 39,000 people.

The total budget allocation for the Ward 32 is 9.56 crores in the current 2016-17 BBMP Budget. Around 21 new works are planned in 2017-18 which may amount to Rs 7.49 crore. Nine pending work from 2016 will cost Rs 1.42 crore and there are eight spill overs (work not completed over the years) which may cost 0.65 crore.