Another set of renovations on Bengaluru’s Church Street has left the vendors and the public frustrated and disappointed. The street has been closed for traffic since Monday and is likely to continue till the end of this week. But the repair work on the road has been going on for about a month now, which has slowed down the customers for the vendors on the street.
TNM spoke to several vendors, who expressed their dismay over the prolonged repair work, which brought their businesses down. Many said that the renovation is unnecessary, as the road has no major damages, and this particular stretch has received frequent modifications already.
“We don’t know why the work is going on. They have removed the stones on the footpath and fixed the same stones again. The main road is closed, and no one comes to our shop these days. It has become difficult for us to even pay the building rent,” said Chandru, who owns a bookshop in the street.
Ravi, a restaurant manager, said that they were not given any notices in advance about the renovation work or the road closure. “We don’t know how long this will continue. It has become a headache for us, especially for the parcel services to function. We are taking the orders out on the Brigade road and handing it over to delivery partners, as the road is closed,” he said.
Lack of transparency
The revamp project has been taken up by UnboxingBLR Foundation, a non-profit organisation, after acquiring permission from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The organisation is founded by Malini Goyal, a former business journalist, and Prashanth Prakash, who is also a founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners in India.
The private entity has a two-year contract for road maintenance and modification. “If it is successfully completed, an extension for another two years will be given to the organisation,” BBMP Executive Engineer Kalleshappa told TNM.
However, there is rising criticism among the public regarding road maintenance being given to a private entity.
“BBMP handing over a public road to a private entity is concerning. In the past, we have seen how parks have been handed over to private agencies and how they have controlled public access,” said Vinay Sreenivasa, an advocate. He also said there was lack of transparency, as the civic body had not made the Memorandum of Understanding public or conducted any discussions in this regard. “There is no clarity on the terms and conditions; now this entity could be in control of the street vendors or pedestrians; we are not sure about that,” he added.
The BBMP had evicted the footpath vendors on Church Street a couple of months ago as a part of an encroachment clearance drive. “The eviction itself was illegal, as there were no notices given in advance. All these are happening while there is not even an elected BBMP council,” Vinay said.
This is not the first time that Bengaluru’s Church Street underwent modifications. The 750-metre stretch received a Rs 18 crore project in 2020 for LED street lights and further beautification, and also a Rs 9 crore cobblestone makeover in 2018.
The frequent renovations of Church Street have also triggered an online debate, with many X users questioning why one particular road is getting repaired repeatedly while many other roads in Bengaluru are ignored.