Deccan Chronicle 11.06.2010
Roads widen, tempers flare
But the anger over the numerous road widening projects is growing in Bengaluru with residents protesting against the double standards followed by the government and BBMP. Citizens say they have to pay the price for the lack of foresightedness on the part of the authorities while planning such projects which could take away the only hard earned property they own. They want the government to put such projects on hold till infrastructure projects like the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR), NICE corridor and Namma Metro and mono rail are complete. Once these projects are ready, traffic congestion will come down drastically making roads less crowded, says A. Vidya Shankar, president of Bangalore South Residents Welfare and Cultural Association. Other alternatives like developing Tier-II cities and taluk headquarters by investing more money in township projects and industries could be explored which will tackle the issue of unchecked growth of Bengaluru, he said.
“If the government still feels the need to widen the roads, residents will not object to it,” he said. Residents of south Bengaluru alleged that minister R. Ashok, who is in charge of the city, had promised to drop road widening projects to garner votes during the BBMP election. Once the BJP gained a majority in the BBMP council, the minister and the government breached the trust of the public and failed to keep up their promise, Mr Vidya Shankar said. Many residents along the stretch from Silk Board Junction to Mysore Road, were given Transferable Development Rights (TDR) forms as the existing 100-feet road was sought to be widened to 150 feet displacing several senior citizens and hapless people, he pointed out.
Even as most people are yet to understand the concept of TDR completely, residents of BTM Layout, JP Nagar, Ilyas Nagar and Banashankari 3rd Stage found their houses had already been marked for demolition ahead of the work undertaken by BBMP, he said.Leo Saldanha, coordinator, Environment Support Group (ESG), points at the long-term consequences of road widening with the main casualty being pedestrian safety. The widened Bellary Road witnessed 54 deaths between May and December 2008. He questioned the need for spending so much money on road widening when other more serious issues such as power, water and education need more attention.