After flood woes, two areas of Bengaluru hit headlines again — this time for traffic mess

According to the members of the Varthur Rising and Namma Balagere volunteer groups, students who boarded school buses from Balagere Main road and travelled towards Outer Ring Road and Varathur missed their classes. They added that some of the students panicked and started crying.

On Wednesday late evening, the parents and students held a candlelight protest march to voice their concerns and pleaded with the Basavaraj Bommai-led government to expand the roads in order to decongest the traffic at the Panathur RUB junction.

The residents said that the stretch (Panathur RUB), which is not more than 15 feet, needs an immediate expansion. It is important to note that some residential buildings along the route have shrunk the size of the road.

Jagadish Reddy, a member of the Varthur Rising group, said, “The traffic on this route starts as early as 6:30 am and the police reach only by 9 am. The traffic congestion reaches its peak after 7 am. The residents of this area have been demanding an expansion of the road for years but some independent houses along this route are deterring the works. As a result, we are facing the brunt of heavy traffic every day.” What makes things worse on this stretch is that the road is filled with potholes, making it difficult for motorists to drive.

Sangappa Misra, a techie residing in Balagere, said, “The government is yet to assure compensation for the residents of independent houses and some shops who have occupied space along the stretch. We can expand the roads only after the occupiers are shifted and compensated. This request to expand the roads has been pending on the Chief Minister’s table for nearly five years.”

Venkata Ramanjaneyalu, father of 8-year-old Lochan Sai, said, “My son’s school is just 2 km away from our place and Wednesday, it took nearly 3 hours to reach because of the traffic. Some localities even distributed biscuits to the school children stranded in the buses. My son missed the first two hours of school because of the traffic. It is such a pain that for a distance of just 2 km, my children have to leave the house at least an hour before the school starts. The BBMP has been giving false promises for many years on expanding the road, but there has been no progress.”

Some residential complexes have deployed their private security guards to untangle the traffic mess in the morning so that children do not miss school. Others have decided to drop their children to school on two-wheelers.

BBMP commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said, “We have allocated Rs 11.5 crore for the acquisition of up to 12 metre of land to expand the road at the RUB junction. Technically, we need at least 18 metre of land for expansion but the occupiers are not ready to give up their land. We are also working on an alternative road which will give a permanent solution to the traffic congestion but for the time being, we will procure land and take up the work to widen the road. Meanwhile, the fund for compensation has been sanctioned and I will request the local authorities to start the work of acquiring land at the earliest.”

Meanwhile, the residents of Balagere and Panathur are planning to hold candle light protests every day from 7 pm to 9 pm to express their concern on the poor condition of roads.