Swanky Church Street is losing its mojo, thanks to potholes and litter

BENGALURU: The cobblestone-paved Church Street, a popular hangout for youngsters with its upscale eateries, pubs and lifestyle stores, is slowly losing its sheen, as pockmarks that appeared on the road are gradually evolving into large potholes. Uncleared garbage, overflowing drains, damaged footpaths and reckless motorists are turning the street that was remodelled to be emblematic about all that Bengaluru is known for, into an avoidable stretch.
While potholes have been around for over a month on the paved street, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has turned a blind eye on the pretext of focusing on works related to Lok Sabha polls.

The street is punctuated by small mounds of uncleared wet and dry waste for most part of the day. With little action on motorists flouting traffic rules, accidents and road rage incidents are becoming the order of the day. Encroached pavements along the 900-metre-long street have pushed the pedestrians onto the carriageway, exposing them to speeding vehicles.
The manager of a lifestyle store said: “When a pothole was highlighted in the media two months ago, officials fixed it. But in less than 15 days, it resurfaced due to shoddy work. The paved stones keep coming off. Whenever we notice, we keep them aside so that no one trips and falls. But during evening and night hours, it is difficult to notice, and accidents are common. We have been telling traffic police to ban heavy vehicles here as they damage the paved surface.”
Deepak Batavia, president of Church Street Shop Owners’ Association, said their weekly association meetings are flooded with complaints from shop owners and their customers.
“Complaints range from traffic violations to encroached footpaths, uncleared garbage and overflowing drains leading to puddles on the street. Customers also often complain about falling and injuring themselves due to potholes and missing stone blocks,” he said.
Batavia, while quoting BBMP’s road engineers, said the paved surface is meant for only light vehicles.
“The stones are unable to bear the load of heavy vehicles and they part away. We have been trying to reach out to BBMP officials for a quick fix to the problem. The immediate intervention shall be regulation of traffic and strict enforcement of traffic rules,” he added.
While many eateries hand over garbage to private operators, vendors and pushcart eateries dump their waste in bins, which will be overflowing with both solid and wet waste with BBMP not clearing it on time.
“Whenever we raise a complaint, officials come and clear the trash. But in less than a few hours, the waste is back and stench lingers around. The overflowing drains at the junction of four roads are nauseating,” a shop owner said.
M Asim, a vendor, said the entire street is one-way but still motorists ply in both directions, especially delivery executives and youngsters without helmets.
Officials said they’ve been receiving complaints from traders.
– Sona Sunil