Easy accessibility, Kammanahalli’s boon

Thanks to the Outer Ring Road skirting it, Kammanahalli’s residents have easy access to Bangalore’s IT belt in the south and to the international airport in the north.

The place has earned the 15th rank in the 28 best localities mapped by the DNA-AZ survey 2010. Residents are upset over the survey ranking but they are happy in general. This locality was not in the mapping radar of the survey last year, so a comparison is not possible.

“I’m a happy Kammanahalli-ite,” declares the locality’s civic leader MC Srinivas. “It had many civic problems but things have improved a lot,” says the councillor.

“But the best part is it’s a safe and silent place,” he adds.

Transport accessibility is another plus while lack of well-laid parks and playgrounds are minuses. “And that is a big minus,” agrees MN Rajesh, a businessman who says lack of jogging space is telling on his health.

Roads too need a thorough touch-up. Water supply is not adequate. Some people get water only thrice a week. And they are discounting the growing menace of stray dogs because the whole of Bangalore suffers from them. But by and large, they seem happy at the steady improvement in the civic facilities.

All agree that they like Kammanahalli for living. It is true that earlier it woefully lacked in every civic amenity starting from street light to garbage. But it all got improved in the past few years. Easy bus link to any corner of Bangalore is a solace and the best part is the ring road is very near which can take people quicker to any place in the city.

For a branded item, a Kammanhalli-ite need not run to the core city or Marathahalli. Several choices are now open to him.  So are restaurants serving south-style, north-style and even continental dishes. There are many supermarkets, hospitals, and stores and Kammanahalli has, thus, become a mini shopping centre with branded shops and confectioneries.

“We get to eat south Indian, continental, and north Indian dishes,” gushes Louis Tellis, a teacher working with  St Charles School and a resident of the area.

Kammanahalli has a middle class profile. “On Thursdays and Sundays, we are getting Cauvery water and the rest of the days we get borewell water. Power cut, however, goes on gloriously. But the area is very safe and we are happy to live in Kammanahalli,” says Louis.

The locality’s innate goodness and peace and calm could be judged from the fact that a great many foreigners have chosen to stay here.

“To say it is a quiet safe and with sufficient facilities like shops and vehicles is saying all. It needs a lot more,” says Malenda Sequira working at a call centre.