That old world charm is hard to find

That old world charm is hard to find

Located at the heart of Bangalore is the Chamarajpet constituency, which has accommodated the city’s most enduring landmarks like the historical Tippu Palace, Krishnaraja Market, Victoria Hospital and Kote School.

However, of late this constituency fails to evoke its charm of the yore and is slowly sinking in the quagmire of shambolic infrastructure.

The once deserted roads of this constituency are nowadays choc-a-block with vehicles making traversing of the area a Herculean task.

Apart from the core Chamarajpet area, parts of Cottonpet, Goripalya, Azad Nagar, Taragupet and Rayapuram also fall under this constituency and these areas problems are no different from Chamarajpet. There is a resentment among the voters of the constituency of their repeated complaints falling on deaf ears.

The K R Market and the Kalasipalya areas are chocked with traffic and people owing to the fact that the private travellers are situated here and the buses block the roads most of the time. Garbage is openly dumped and this is just one among many complaints that involve clogged drains, lack of footpaths, inadequate water supply and stray dogs.

These factors have ensured that the footfalls for the Tipu Palace have seen a constant decline in the recent past and government’s apathy ensures that this decline continues unabated.

The entrance of the Victoria Hospital is always obstructed with vendors, vehicles and BMTC buses. The hospital officials expressed their helplessness of the complaints evoking zero response from the civic authorities concerned.

With the underpass construction in the Market junction, the traffic is uncontrollable and pedestrians and motorists are forced to bear the brunt. With the commercial areas reeking of such rot the residential areas are automatic casualties. Battered roads, improper sanitation, irregular garbage disposal and bad transportation facilities is a motif that plays in all these areas.

Though the bus service is well connected the public feels that there is a room for lot of improvement and there is a demand for increase in the number of bus shelters. It is also observed that the public initiatives in fighting for their rights and amenities is also not very strong in this part of the constituency.

Apart from individual complaints from the concerned citizens and random protests, lack of unity among residents is letting the problems multiply like bacteria, complain few senior residents of Chamarajpet.