Stop construction of hallucinatory 'Raja Marga'

Threat to trees

Frenzied digging to construct a storm water drain on one roadside has started for the past two to three months or so from the Hardinge Circle on the one side of Albert Victor Road.

Interlocking tiles have been removed from one roadside footpath that is parallel to Curzon Park Block 01 (Dr Rajkumar Park) and stacked on the park's compound wall.  UGD (Underground Drainage lines) are being relocated. There will be lampposts on the roadsides at every 60 ft.

There will be one metre storm water drains, 75 cm ducts each for electricity cables of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (Cesc) and telephone ducts on either side of the road.

No noted historian has confirmed the existence of the imaginary Raja Marga even during pre-Independent India.

To siphon off public funds

It is just a figment of wild imagination of unscrupulous elements to siphon off  public money of  ` 18.65 crore for just 5.4 Kms (at ` 3.43 crore per km) and is just another example of maladministration of MCC,  which is unfortunately behaving roguishly ever since JnNURM funds have been sanctioned since 2008/2009.

This is also another attempt to shrink the footpath to less than 5 ft although it should be technically 13 ft in busy commercial areas in accordance with the vehicle centric, unscientific, outdated and outmoded IRC footpath norms which haven't been revised since 1988.  

IRC norms unfortunately decide footpath width based on the number of Passenger Car Units (PCUs).

Shrinking footpaths

Electricity and telephone poles, transformers, information display boards will encroach upon the space meant for pedestrians on the shrunken roadside footpaths leaving no space whatsoever for the spectators to view the Dasara procession.

Proactive citizens need to file a complaint with the Lokayukta regarding the maladministration of MCC to stop the construction of the Raja Marga before it completely destroys the greenery and heritage of the entire Mysore City.

I'll be filing it as soon as possible.

Syed Tanveeruddin,
Member Karanji and
Siddharthanagar Tax
Payers' Association (KSTPA)