Whitefield, Bangalore

Whitefield is a neighborhood of Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka, India. Established in the late 1800s as a settlement for the Eurasians and Anglo Indians of Bangalore, Whitefield remained a quaint little settlement at the eastern periphery of Bangalore city till the late 1990s when the local IT boom turned it as a major suburb. It is now a major part of Greater Bangalore.^[1] It is renowned for Sathya Sai Baba's ashram called Brindavan and as a haven for multinational information technology companies.^[2]

History

In 1882, Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the Maharaja of Mysore State, granted 3,900 acres (16 km²) of land to the Eurasian and Anglo-Indian Association for the establishment of agricultural settlements at Whitefield, which lay within his territory. The association was then about 170 strong with a committee of 30 members. They were part of the formation of the only settlement in India that European and Eurasians could call their own. Mr. White, the then president of the E&AI Association., took a lively interest in it and helped in its advancement which at the beginning was an uphill task.

In the first decade of the 1900s there were about 45 houses: 18 were on the village site and the remainder were on farms throughout the settlement and contained about 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) of land fit for cultivation. The number of residents in 1907 was 130. Lord Connemara, the then governor of Madras (1890) and General Sir Harry Prendergast, a British resident in Mysore, visited the settlement and lent support to the development of Whitefield. Subsequently, there were regular visits to Whitefield by the Bangalore District officials and high dignitaries from the Madras Presidency.^[3]

The settlement was 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the Bangalore-Madras (now Chennai) line and a station was built. It led to the influx of residents and their families who worked at Kolar Gold Fields, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) (by train) to the east. It became convenient for those working at KGF to catch a train (running 3 to 4 times a day) and return to their families. There were frequent trains running to Bangalore 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the west (by train). Reaching the settlement from the railway station was possible only by writing a letter to Mrs. Hamilton (wife of a James Hamilton, the keeper of the Waverly Inn) who would arrange for a bullock cart trip for 8 annas.^[3]

Winston Churchill, two-time prime minister of the UK, is said to have paid frequent visits to the Waverly Inn while in India.^[4][5] Legend has it that Churchill courted the daughter of the inn keepers, Rose Hamilton.^[6][7]

Until the late 1990s, Whitefield was a small village. It has since become a major hub for the Indian technology industry. The Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) at Whitefield is one of the country's first information technology parks — International Tech Park, Bangalore (ITPB) which houses offices of many IT and ITES companies.^[8]

Whitefield is now officially part of Bangalore city which is part of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

Panoramic View of Whitefield

Infrastructure

Whitefield has started seeing a boom in residential construction^[9] since the latter half of 1990s and especially during 2002 and onwards.

There are two major four-lane roads connecting Bangalore city with Whitefield — Whitefield road via Mahadevapura and Varthur road (HAL Old Airport Road) via Marathahalli. Both roads intersect with Karnataka State highway 35 (SH 35) which runs north-south (Siddlaghatta in the north to Anekal in the south).

The Whitefield railway station is about 3 km north of the Whitefield Bus stop. It lies on the Bangalore-Chennai route and is double and electrified, the Krishnarajapuram-Whitefield section is slated to be converted to a quadruple line.^[10] The station is slated to become a junction with a new Whitefield-Kolar (53 km; 33 miles) line being laid.^[11]

The Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has a large inland container depot just off Whitefield road near ITPB.

Shopping malls like The Forum Neighborhood Mall, Phoenix Market City, Park Square Mall, Inorbit Mall and entertainment centres like IONA Entertainment are in the Whitefield area.^[12] It also houses the renowned super specialty hospital, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield, inaugurated by Sri Sathya Sai Baba on 19 January 2001, which offers all the medical services for free.^[13][14] Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre is the other major super-speciality hospital in Whitefield.

Whitefield has extensive city bus connectivity with a wide range of services offered by BMTC. A Traffic and Transit Management Centre (TTMC) in EPIP is functional with schedules connecting it with most areas of the city.^[15]

The much anticipated Namma Metro project is expected to cater to Whitefield under Phase 2. The Purple line will be extended from Byappanahalli to Whitefield covering 13 stations in between.^[16][17]

Whitefield suffers from water shortages especially during summer months as the whole region relies almost entirely on groundwater. With the increase in housing and office space,^[18] the demand has been multiplying over the years, and groundwater depletion has been worsening alarmingly. BWSSB is supplying the region with water under the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage IV, Phase II. BWSSB has been granted Rs.1000 crore for water projects in 2012 including supplying water to areas of Greater Bangalore which includes Whitefield.^[19]

Geographic location

There are two main roads serving this area — Whitefield road from Krishnarajapura and Whitefield Main Road from Varthur. They ntersect at Hope Farm junction. Reserve forests of eucalyptus trees can be found in many places in Whitefield.

• 
  Caterpillar at the RMZ NXT Building
• 
  TCS L Center
• 
  Sigma Technology Park
• 
  Prestige Shantiniketan
• 
  The Forum Value
• 
  Phoenix Market City
• 
  Brigade Harmony
• 
  Inner Circle Park
• 
  Whitefield Road

References

External links

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