Image for representational purpose only.
BENGALURU: Santosh Kumar and Varthur Nagaraj, both residents of the Panathur village near Whitefield, did not drink a single drop of water or eat a morsel of food from Friday morning to Saturday night. Reason: Their lands are being acquired by the BBMP at a rate much lower than the market value. Several villagers joined the protest at Panathur from Friday morning.
With increasing traffic congestion on stretches of the ORR in Whitefield, especially on the stretch connecting Panathur to Balagere, residents, including villagers and techies, have demanded the BBMP to widen the road for the last two years. The stretch has many residential complexes and hundreds of IT employees use it to commute to work. The detailed project report for the project was prepared in 2016, but work is yet to begin.
“While the market value of the land is about Rs 4,000 per sq ft, BBMP is offering us Rs 800, of which we will only get `600, as the rest will be spent on paying commissions to officials. About 1.5 acres of my land will be acquired,” Santosh said. He and Nagaraj finally broke his fast on Saturday night after BBMP councillor for Varthur ward, Pushpa, spoke to them, and asked them to meet higher officials.
Santosh added that even the villagers want the road to be widened. “Our children have to spend 2-3 hours to commute from school to home. Traffic has worsened in the past one week and people hesitate to even take the Varthur Bridge,” he said. BBMP has banned heavy vehicles from plying on the bridge.Jagadish Reddy, a resident of Varthur, said traffic on stretches of the road is often unbearable, with vehicles moving only 1-2 km in 1.5-2 hours. “The villagers too are suffering, but they want proper compensation for their lands,” he said.
