BANGALORE: Tucked away between the bustling Bannerghatta Road and Kanakapura Road is Anjanapura Layout, developed by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). Anjanapura Township Blocks (1st to 8th) and Anjanapura Further Extension spread across nearly 1,500 acres, according to the BDA, form the biggest layout developed in the recent years.Belying the boastful names and tall claims, not much action seems have been taken up by the Authority to develop the area into a full fledged residential locality. From the lack of water supply to bad roads, no street lamps, no police station and ill-maintained sites, most factors are bound to deter prospective buyers from picking up a site in the layout. Despite a few houses scattered across the layout, not much development can be seen in and around the layout.Water, where? It's nowhereThere is drinking water supply to the area. This is a major concern for residents of this layout. They have to rely entirely on borewells and groundwater. "Though water pipelines have been laid, there is no indication of water being supplied in the near future. We all are forced to dig borewells to meet our water requirements," Ramanna B, a resident, said.All this notwithstanding the fact that the layout was envisioned and developed back in 2002, almost a decade ago. Back then itself, BDA claims to have allotted 5,000 sites in Anjanapura Further Extension and Banashankari Sixth Stage Phase 3. By its own admission, the authority could supply water to any of these site owners since then.According to Town Planner Member of BDA Tirukana Gowda, it was up to the engineering department to carry on with the work they had started, when they planned and designed the layout years ago. "We have nothing to do with the development of layouts," he added.Infrastructure woesIf lack of water is the lingering issue for residents and deterrent for prospective buyers, poor or no roads and no street lamps pose a major threat to even commuters who accidentally take this route.Another local resident Mahesh S said, "There is electricity supply to most of the areas, excluding a few in Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Blocks, but the absence of street lamps and bad roads make it tough for us. Especially during monsoons, life becomes hell with low lying areas being inundated with rainwater and getting detached from the rest of the layout. Many old roads here have also get eroded and washed away, still nothing much is being done about it." There are, however, sanitary connections and open drains running all through the layout.About the development activities in the layout, Engineering Member of the BDA R Srinivas said, "They have always been there."When countered with the argument about the lack of several facilities, he said that he was not in a position to answer that without the permission of BDA Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena.Double standardMany sites in the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Blocks here have been infested with weeds and wild growth. In fact, a 'park' with a BDA signboard looks more like a thick forest down a deep valley.Surprisingly, the BDA has issued a notice with a stern warning to private land owners, who do not actually come under the layout, to clean up their properties and fence them within 15 days."There seems to be two different set of rules in place, one for the BDA and another for the rest. Otherwise, why would the Authority issue notices to others, when it hasn't moved a stone to develop the area?" questioned Balaji K who runs a shop in the Third Block.Krishna Prasad, who is interested in applying for a site in one of the BDA layouts, is apprehensive about Anjanapura's growth."In the last 10 years, nothing much has happened in many blocks here. Going by the current state of affairs, my friends are telling me that it's not a good idea investing in a property here," he added.
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