Deccan Chronicle 18.01.2011
What’s the priority? Wider roads or civic projects
January 18th, 2011Jan. 17: Bengaluru is on its way to losing more of its green cover as the BBMP is going ahead with widening at least 105 roads in and around the city despite mayor S. K. Nataraj's promise to shelve the project in the core areas and confine it to the localities brought recently under the civic agency's jurisdiction.
Chairman of the BBMP standing committee on major works, H. Ravindra, who sees the project to widen roads in the city as a challenge, promises to eventually tackle all 216 roads which have been listed in the revised comprehensive master plan 2015, using the tool of transferable development rights (TDR) to persuade people to give up part of their properties for it.
He hopes to preempt any public hue and cry by going about the project in a phased manner. For now the BBMP is concentrating on widening Mysore Road, Kasturba Road, Hosur Road, Banasawadi Road, Suranjan Das Road, Dickenson Road and Tannery Road. Not only do people here stand to lose their properties, but also their trees which have for years provided them shade and protection from pollution.
A non-governmental organisation, Save Bengaluru Committee is outraged at this ‘unscientific’ road widening, and insists that it must be put off until the on-going infrastructure work is completed and a survey is conducted to assess the vehicle density in these areas. “Otherwise why should a few people lose their properties for no fault of theirs?” asks convener of Save Bengaluru Committee S. Rajashekar.
The outfit also points out that water, power and telecom lines may go haywire if all the 216 roads are widened without enought thought being given to the project. Its convener, Dr B. R. Manjunath warns that if the BBMP tries to carry out road widening through the backdoor to avoid public protest, the Save Bengaluru Committee will do its best to unite residents of the areas in question to agitate against it. Dr Manjunath strongly feels that instead of widening roads, the government should concentrate on providing the city with a high speed rail link and other modes of mass transportation to take the pressure off them.
