Barely just a few days after two areas of Bengaluru — Balagere and Panathur — hit the headlines for remaining flooded for a few days, the areas had been as soon as once more again on information. This time, the 2-km stretch of the Panathur RUB (railway beneath bridge) junction remained choked with site visitors for over two and a half hours Wednesday morning, leaving round 100 faculty youngsters stranded.
The stretch is a key hyperlink that connects Kadubeesanahalli on the Outer Ring Street (ORR) and Varthur.
In keeping with the members of the Varthur Rising and Namma Balagere volunteer teams, college students who boarded faculty buses from Balagere Fundamental highway and travelled in direction of Outer Ring Street and Varathur missed their courses. They added that among the college students panicked and began crying.
On Wednesday late night, the mother and father and college students held a candlelight protest march to voice their considerations and pleaded with the Basavaraj Bommai-led authorities to increase the roads so as to decongest the site visitors on the Panathur RUB junction.
The residents mentioned that the stretch (Panathur RUB), which isn’t greater than 15 ft, wants a direct growth. It is very important be aware that some residential buildings alongside the route have shrunk the dimensions of the highway.
Jagadish Reddy, a member of the Varthur Rising group, mentioned, “The site visitors on this route begins as early as 6:30 am and the police attain solely by 9 am. The site visitors congestion reaches its peak after 7 am. The residents of this space have been demanding an growth of the highway for years however some impartial homes alongside this route are deterring the works. Consequently, we face the brunt of heavy site visitors on daily basis.” What makes issues worse on this stretch is that the highway is full of potholes, making it troublesome for motorists to drive.
Sangappa Misra, a techie residing in Balagere, mentioned, “The federal government is but to guarantee compensation for the residents of impartial homes and a few outlets who’ve occupied house alongside the stretch. We are able to increase the roads solely after the occupiers are shifted and compensated. This request to increase the roads has been pending on the Chief Minister’s desk for almost 5 years.”
Venkata Ramanjaneyalu, father of 8-year-old Lochan Sai, mentioned, “My son’s faculty is simply 2 km away from our place and Wednesday, it took almost 3 hours to succeed in due to the site visitors. Some localities even distributed biscuits to the college youngsters stranded within the buses. My son missed the primary two hours of college due to the site visitors. It’s such a ache that for a distance of simply 2 km, my youngsters have to go away the home no less than an hour earlier than the college begins. The BBMP has been giving false guarantees for a few years on increasing the highway, however there was no progress.”
Some residential complexes have deployed their non-public safety guards to untangle the site visitors mess within the morning in order that youngsters don’t miss faculty. Others have determined to drop their youngsters to highschool on two-wheelers.
BBMP commissioner Tushar Giri Nath mentioned, “We now have allotted Rs 11.5 crore for the acquisition of as much as 12 metre of land to increase the highway on the RUB junction. Technically, we want no less than 18 metre of land for growth however the occupiers will not be prepared to surrender their land. We’re additionally engaged on another highway which can give a everlasting answer to the site visitors congestion however in the interim, we are going to procure land and take up the work to widen the highway. In the meantime, the fund for compensation has been sanctioned and I’ll request the native authorities to start out the work of buying land on the earliest.”
In the meantime, the residents of Balagere and Panathur are planning to carry candle mild protests on daily basis from 7 pm to 9 pm to specific their concern on the poor situation of roads.