Safety issues at the forefront in this ward

BANGALORE: Bangalore was once called as the Pensioner’s Paradise, Garden City and many other such sobriquets. The city had earned such names due to well-planned wards like Malleshwaram. The residents of Malleshwaram ward have urged the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to increase police patrolling in their ward. When City Express visited this ward, most of the citizens complained of this problem.Incidents of bike-borne chain snatchers targeting lone women are on the rise. “Women who go to shops and temples in the ward are targeted and robbed. Most them do not wish to lodge a police complaint. The area corporator should have a word with the concerned police station to increase the police patrolling,” said Sandeep, a marketing executive.  As most of the houses in the ward are relaying on bore-well for water supply, there are not much complaints regarding this. But, residents are furious over the repeated digging of the newly laid roads. “If the cable operators dig the road some time ago, people from the electricity department dig it for a different purpose once again. This has caused huge inconvenience to us. If there is better coordination amongst these officials then the double work can be avoided,” said Venu Gopal, a retired bank employee.City Express found water was leaking in large amount since the work of laying water pipes were going on in the ward. "Large amount of water is getting wasted and this has to be checked," said Robert, a car driver. We also found that there was complete lack of walking space for the pedestrians. Most footpaths remained encroached with construction materials, while the rest were just used as parking space for cars. Venu Gopal further alleged, "The mobile garbage collection auto or the push cart by the civic workers do not come for garbage collection regularly. Due to this, we are forced to dispose the garbage on the footpath near 11th Main Road, 17th Cross." Also, retired people like Venu Gopal who are now at home, said that it would be better if their ward has a park with some kind of recreational activities for senior citizens. The area corporator was not available for comments.