Palike leaves behind a mark

BANGALORE: Renovate, when one looks up in the English dictionary, is defined as ‘to restore to an earlier condition, as by repairing or remodeling’. But the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) definition of the same seems to very a lot. it probably stands for leaving behind huge slabs of stone and a long list of woes for the pedestrians.Thimmaiah Road has been in the news more often than not in the recent past. First, it was made to face the brunt of being the diversion for Miller’s Road. Second, the immense stress it was under, caused large craters which lead to long queues of vehicles. But the BBMP worked at supersonic pace to repair the road and ensure that people are not put under unwanted inconveniences. But now, the problem that is making lives difficult are the pavements, or rather what is left of the pavements.Archit, a pedestrian, remarked, “Get ready. You will face a lot of obstacles in your path when walking through this road. There will be stones that will try to block your way. But do not stop and move on. Next, you might have to jump your way from one slab to another. But do not give up. You will reach your destination finally.”The whole stretch of one side of Thimmaiah Road has no footpath to talk of. The slabs have been removed and tossed and turned leading to a very haphazard discarding of the same. People are forced to hop, skip and jump in order to make their way through. Added to this, garbage has been piled up at several locations on the road. By the looks of it, the BBMP has either tried to desilt the drains that run along the road or to reconstruct the footpaths.Sheela, another walker, said, “It is very difficult to walk through this mess. Atleast an attempt has to be made by the concerned authorities to clear it up. It has been this way from the past month or so. Where do they expect us to walk? Mainly, it is very difficult for kids and the elderly to walk through.”What probably worsens the situation is the fact that the other side of the road lacks footpaths for a small expanse leaving pedestrians with no choice but to use the broken footpath. When City Express tried to get in touch with Somashekhar, chief engineer, BBMP, he remained unavailable for comments.