JOIN USWhy widen a quiet road, residents ask
The project lacks logic as the road does not have much vehicle traffic, Varghese, a resident, says. He says “it is tragic to see” only huge trees being uprooted while retaining the smaller ones.
The project has been partially funded by Bagmane Tech Park which is contributing 25 per cent of the total cost of widening the 4.2-km long road, at a cost of Rs 14 crore.
Nearly 140 trees will be uprooted for the project. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is also parting away with few acres of land for the project. The reason why Bagmane Tech Park is funding the project is to enable those of its employees who take this route to reach their office, located in the Park easily.
Although environment groups are yet to protest on the move, a volunteer from one of the green groups in Bangalore visited the spot and found road-widening might not solve the traffic problem there.
“There are two bottlenecks on this stretch, one at the Bagmane Tech Park turning and other on BEML Circle, the traffic may zip through the widened road, but ultimately will have to get clogged at these two junctions,” said the volunteer.
Another resident said that there are alternative roads to reach the place. “There is no need for road-widening here. If the project is taken up, it will be a disaster,” he said.
However, BBMP official Nagaraj said the project was conceived four years ago and was only being executed now.
“The BBMP is planning to make it a six-lane road connecting Old Airport Road to Old Madras Road. The work will begin after the trees are felled,” he said.
Although, BBMP has declared that the wood from these trees can only make firewood, building contractors have already started striking deals to buy the wood as timber for construction purposes.