Tired of not getting quick responses to their problems by civic authorities, residents of Brookefield Layout have taken the matter into their own hands to fix dug-up patches of road in their locality through crowdfunding.
The residents alleged that the same stretch of Brookefield Road had been dug up at least 12 times by multiple civic agencies since June 2021, when it was asphalted by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“After a lot of persuasion, the road was asphalted back then. A few weeks later, one of the civic agencies dug it up for some work. Bescom also dug the road up a couple of times for underground cabling and a few repair works. BWSSB has also dug up the road for Cauvery water pipe repair work. Most of the times, these agencies do not close up the roads which is why, we asphalt it ourselves with crowdsourced money,” said Kaustubh Shantanu of Brookefield Layout Residents’ Association.
He added that at an expense of ₹10 lakh, the association also got a cable duct constructed at the entrance of the layout as a future extendable solution. The association members also said that they once received a reimbursement of ₹20,000 from Bescom after spending ₹60,000 on repairing the road which was dug up by them.
The residents said that there was a clear lack of coordination among the civic agencies which resulted in the dozen times it was dug.
A BBMP official of the Mahadevapura zone said that even though the permission of the civic body should be sought before digging up of roads, sometimes other civic agencies like Bescom dig up roads on the basis of immediate powers.
“If the lines are broken or if power supply is shut down, then they dig up roads immediately for restoration. During those times, they do not necessarily take our permission,” they said.
Earlier in July, the BBMP Chief Civic Commissioner had also said that digging of roads was not allowed for three months following the rains. However, sources within the BBMP had said that several utilities had sought exemption and dug up roads.
The residents of Brookefield Layout have been crowdfunding since 2014 to build basic infrastructure in the locality. They say that approaching the authorities and getting the work done will consume a lot of time as it will require multiple follow-ups. Hence, they seek their help only for major civic issues.
