Myth of development at Peenya industrial area

BANGALORE: Due to heavy industrial presence in this part of the city, the Peenya Industrial Area (PIA), is often mistaken as a well developed ward but in reality, it portrays a different picture altogether. This ward lies in between Laggare and Nagarbhavi which has been heavily developed over the years due to rapid industrialisation.Peenya has not yet been affected by crass urbanisation but residents have a long list of complaints in this ward. Sunil Gowda, a resident said, “The ward suffers a lot because of the innumerable industries that has come up in the surrounding areas. Most of the waste is diverted to this area because of poor sanitation.The industrial waste too fills up the drains in the ward.” Apart from poor sanitation, the authority is in the process of installing Cauvery pipes, which has made life unbearable for the residents. Sunil adds, “All roads are dug up in the ward. The ongoing works block half the road, because of the heavy machinery and equipment. We are pushed to ride on the narrower part of the road while on the other side, the drains over flow and leaks on to the main road.There has been a few slips and falls here and there, but,luckily we haven’t seen any serious accidents so far.But,it does not mean that we should wait for one”. While, most of their civic issues are attended such as sufficient supply of water and electricity, the ward is still unsafe and has seen a lot of theft, time and again. Sunil outlines, “We have no security in this area and in the previous weeks, there were lots of thefts.Offenders stole tyres from all the cars in the lane in just one night.We approached the local police but they didn’t even register a complaint and said, they had better things to look after apart from these petty crimes.” Apart from problems of day-to-day crime, the ward have been creating severe acts of rowdyism too. Manjunath Swamy, a resident said, “People form gangs in the name of caste and areas here.Recently, there was an accident in this area when a person fell off his bike as the road was muddy and slippery. But,the victim blamed the person who was coming from the opposite direction for his fall. The next day, a huge gang of people came and started throwing stones and shut all the shops in the vicinity of the mishap spot. It was like an undeclared curfew by rowdies for the whole day.” He further adds “we can’t approach the police because they are totally biased in this area.If we do approach the police, you will never ever hear of us again.” The ward is not properly maintained. There are no parks in the ward, there are very few schools for students and garbage is strewn in every corner of the road.The ward office is right opposite a government school and right in front of the school, is an open drain where the house waste and plastic is disposed off.Another big problem confronting this ward is that the waste is not collected by anyone.In fact,it is burnt right at the dumping spot and the toxic fumes of the burning plastic threatening the very lives of the children in this ward. Sunil fumes, “the ward office is right there and yet, it seems to overlook all these issues.” Uma, another resident said, “the main problem of this ward is that the place is not cleaned regularly.No one collects the garbage from the houses, with the result, it all ends up on the roads. The waste too attracts the hungry, street dogs and therefore, there is a huge number of canine population roaming during the nights and disturbing the residents to no end.” When City Express tried to reach the Corporator of the ward, K.L Thimmananjayya, he was unavailable for any comments