Yeddyurappa comes good on one promise, breaks another

Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s ‘adopted’ son Vishwanath—whom Yeddyurappa had adopted on February 27, 2011, when a slum in Sanjaynagar, near Gali Anjaneya Temple, was inundated with sewage and rainwater—is on the road to a successful life.

However, the other residents of the Sanjaynagar slum are not so lucky.

While celebrating his 69th birthday on February 27, 2011, at Sanjaynagar slum, Yeddyurappa had made two promises. First, he had said he would adopt Vishwanath, a boy from the slum.
Second, he said by his next birthday, he would ensure all slum-dwellers would be provided with living quarters.

Yeddyurappa lived up to his first promise by securing admission to Vishwanath in a school run by the Suttur Mutt in Mysore, but the slum-dwellers are still waiting for their shelters.

More than 200 families lost their houses in a flood last year. They are now living in makeshift 5x8 sq ft sheds along the roadside. They are still vulnerable to rain and flood. When it rains, they plead with their neighbours to seek shelter to spend the night.

The sheds are built next to a drain and it is unsanitary as the water is used for bathing and cooking.

An inspection of the slum reveals that the foundation stones have been laid for just 60 houses of the 180 houses scheduled for construction in three blocks.

Sources said the work would be completed in May. This means slum-dwellers are at the mercy of the elements for the next four to five months. Sharan Gowda, another slum-dweller, said he has nightmares about the rainy season.

“I have four children and I don’t know where to go when it rains. My children are falling sick already because of the condition in the sheds,” he added.

Local councillor BS Ananda said the work cannot be
completed before the rainy season.

“The work was delayed due to rain; the construction site was inundated. Now, the work has begun,” he added.