Palace locality is a royal mess

BANGALORE: Although christened the ‘Palace locality’, many areas of Ward No. 99 Aramanenagar don’t come close to looking fit for royalty. Unconcreted conservancies, dirty side drains, heaps of garbage left uncollected, untarred roads and shoddy footpaths define the picture here.
Work has been slow here, although sure to some extent. Today, much of what has been done is still in the process of completion.The new works will see a beginning later. Incidentally, well-known Bangalore personalities have homes here.
All is not as bad. Water and sewage lines were recently laid at Ashwathnagar and connections given. Side drain work is in progress at Jabaar Block, Munirappa Block, AAN Block, Vyalikaval and Lower Palace Orchards. Of the 14 new works concerning drain, culverts construction in Kempaiah Block, Vyalikaval 1st and 2nd cross and chip-carpeting in CK Street, Vyalikaval and Kempanna Layout, none have begun.
The ward consists of areas Vyalikaval, Sadashivnagar, Palace Guttahalli (PG Halli) 1st to 10th cross, Lower Palace Orchards, Ashwathnagar, Bharat Mata Block, Gollar Huts, Venkatarangapuram, Kempaiah Block, Nagappa Street, Muneshwara Block and Dollars Layout. Slums are AAN Block and Jabaar Block.
This partial ward has received Rs 45 lakh apart from Special Grants of Rs 75 lakh for improvement to drains, culverts, chip-carpeting to roads and park development in the entire ward.
In progress now is some chip-carpeting works in Ashwathnagar (Devasandra, Poojari layout). Corporator A. Rajendra Rao insists, "Three-fourths of the ward have been chip-carpeted, 70 per cent concreted and in Sadashivnagar, 70 per cent of the roads have been asphalted."
The problem areas in the ward are PG Halli, Ashwathnagar and slums.
From Vyalikaval to PG Halli, a one-km-long SWD is in dire need of desilting. But says the corporator, "The files are pending in the BCC. It will probably take three more months."
Slum AAN Block is in bad shape. Rows of huts lined together with filthy drains, untarred roads and heaps of garbage is the way the slum looks currently but residents can take heart with the plans to construct new homes for them by the Slum Board.
At Muneshwara Block, apart from some side drains and roads, all others are filthy and untarred. Same is the case with CK Street, PG Halli, Ashwathnagar, Poojari Layout, Dollar Colony and Jabaar Block. In these areas, garbage is also a sore sight along with pathetic footpaths. Sadashivnagar is by far one of the best parts of this ward.