Why Bengaluru's Bellandur is more than a lake

By: Tushar Kaushik

Included in Bengaluru only in the previous decade, the Bellandur ward, with about eight tech parks, rubs shoulders with the high and mighty of the technology world. With an area of 26.4 sq km, it is one of the largest wards in the city and also the largest contributor to property tax. But it gets a raw deal when it comes to infrastructure, development and fund allocation.

According to data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Rs 1,926 crore has been collected as property tax from Bengaluru’s 198 wards in the current financial year (until now). Bellandur contributed the highest — Rs 103 crore, or about 5.35% of the total collection. In contrast, the budget allocated to the ward in FY19 is just Rs 4.09 crore, or a mere 0.04% of the BBMP’s total outlay of Rs 10,132.8 crore. This is why the residents of Bellandur are grudging.


Vishnu Prasad, president of the RWA Kasavanahalli Development Forum in Bellandur, said not even one major road is in good condition, and several roads have been dug up. The widening of Sarjapur Road, taken up about 18 months ago, is only 12% complete against the planned 40%, he said. “In the Karnataka Assembly, when an MLC raised a question on this, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said the contract for the work will end in 2020 and if the work is not finished by then, we (the govt) will take action. But until then, what are the people supposed to do?” Prasad said.

Mukund Kumar, member of the RWA, Bellandur Development Forum, said the mushrooming of tech parks in the ward has caused major traffic and civic issues with no solution in sight. “The Metro work on the Outer Ring Road has also not been initiated as the firm that had got the tender, IL&FS, went bankrupt.” Kumar said a suburban train network connecting Bellandur could be a solution if the government willed it. He said corporate firms with offices in the ward should also strive to do more to address the issues.

NO INFRA, BUT NO CAP ON BUILDINGS
Prasad said despite the glaring deficiencies in infrastructure, new housing projects within the ward are being approved at breakneck speed. “A new project of about a thousand houses is coming up on Hosa Road. Just imagine, the area doesn’t have drainage or water supply, and not a single BMTC bus goes on that road. As soon as one hears Bellandur, people think only of the lake,” he said.

A senior officer in the Bangalore Development Authoity (BDA) who did not wish to be named said urban local bodies (ULB) are bound by law to permit housing projects in residential areas earmarked in the master plan. The officer said, “Since the responsibility is on the ULB to provide basic facilities like underground drainage, water, ULB cannot impose restrictions on citizens to accumulate only in developed regions under the excuse of poor infrastructure.”

The officer said the applicant could always argue that it is the responsibility of the administration to provide basic amenities. “Also, till now, be it in the country, state or at the ULB level, no law has been enacted to distribute funds based on the population as it may lead to regional imbalances,” the officer said.

Prasad alleged that while Bellandur was allotted low funds despite having a large area of 26 sqkm, wards with an area of just 2-4 sqkm were allotted more funds due to politicians exerting their influence. He said the implementation of the BS Patil committee’s report on delimitation of wards would enable the ward to receive more funds. The committee’s 2015 report has recommended dividing Bengaluru into five corporations and 400 wards. This, however, has been set aside by the present coalition government.

THE VILLAGE PANCHAYAT
Just as Bellandur lake was not always so polluted — people swam in it even during the nineties — Bellandur was a functioning village panchayat until the urban sprawl swamped it. Its issues began when it became part of the BBMP in 2007. Jagannath K, a former president of the Bellandur gram panchayat, recalls a time before the advent of tech parks when the panchayat returned to the BBMP ?50 lakh it had in excess from the development fund. At the time, the annual budget was Rs 7 crore for five villages and very limited development had occurred, he said. He blamed the way the ward was bifurcated for the disproportionate funding it gets now. “The neighbouring Marathalli ward had only 2-3 villages, while Bellandur had nearly 30. The boundaries were decided because of pressures exerted by politicians to accommodate their followers.” Jagannath said hardly any development has happened since 2007 and no planning for the future is visible. “Another factor is the reservation policy for the ward’s corporator. Because the ward is allotted an SC/ ST councillor in alternate terms, the incumbent councilor knows he/she has to vacate the post and, thus, has no motivation to do good work in the ward,” he said.

Rajesh R, a spokesperson for Bellandur ward councillor Asha Suresh, said the BBMP has a policy of providing a fixed amount of funds for every ward irrespective of its size or population. “We keep sending proposals for increased funding and try to utilise the allocated funds in the best way possible. But, we do face scarcity of funds,” he said. Rajesh said major roads are being dug up in the ward to lay Cauvery pipelines. “We have now got budget allocation to patch up the roads and it is under process,” he said.

WATER CRISIS
The drinking water crisis in Bellandur ward was so acute that residents were forced to seek help from the high court in 2009 after government agencies did not create the infrastructure to supply Cauvery water. Their wait will end only in July when the BWSSB is expected to complete the infrastructure work. “We had awarded the work of Bommanahalli zone (under which Bellandur comes) to L&T in 2016. The project of laying a 668-km network of pipeline is almost complete,” a senior BWSSB engineer said.

Another official said they have already started providing water connection to houses. “We did not find a good response as we collect prorata charges for building the infrastructure based on the built-up area of the house. Some are willing to pay but not all,” the official said. He said most apartments depend on tankers or borewells for water. “Local residents who are economically poor say they cannot afford to pay pro-rata charges,” he said.

A ‘DOUBLE WHAMMY’
Budgetary allocation within a city should be based on a combination of factors, such as the quality of life each neighbourhood enjoys vis-àvis the benchmark, demand of citizens and projected population, said Srikanth Vishwanathan, chief executive officer of Janaagraha, an NGO working to promote local governance. On Bellandur residents’ demand for greater allocation, he said: “They are feeling the brunt of development. The pace of growth in the area was much faster that in other areas, and as the residents were not in the core areas, they did not benefit from good urban infrastructure and services. Hence, they are suffering a double whammy.”

(With inputs from Akshatha Rao and Naveen Menezes)