Written by Pathi Venkata Thadhagath | Edited by Chandrashekar Srinivasan
Electric poles have appeared in the middle of Bengaluru streets and photographs of these poles have been widely shared online by irate locals.
A residents’ group called Namma Belagere tweeted images of the poles and wrote, “This is how road-widening work takes place in Balagere… electric poles in (the) middle of the road… inviting accidents to happen… what is the justification” and tagged officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the local MLA and even chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Twitter users expressed their concern; one user wrote, “This is very dangerous, will u take responsibility if someone dies bcos they hit the pole or gets electrocuted, lack of planning, the permissions should have been taken before starting the work, this is perennial problem with this govt, start work then stop work because no permission…”
Officials have responded explaining that the decision was a ‘conscious decision’ to complete some work while the weather remains dry.
“Considering weather conditions, it was a conscious decision to finish the DBM layer asphalting when it is not raining. Pole-shifting is delayed because land owners do not want the electric poles after the drainage. Our task force volunteers are coordinating. More help welcome,” a civic body team, the Mahadevapura task force (mobility) tweeted.
