JOIN USRegular commuters, shopkeepers and people living around Sivananda Circle and Sheshadripuram are deeply worried that the proposed steel flyover at the busy intersection would worsen the problem of flooding that was witnessed in the past few days.
Many of them are upset that the state government is going ahead with steel flyover building plans and is not bothered about widening the existing railway underpass to ease the traffic congestion under it.
The controversy over the construction of the steel flyover began many months ago and is still alive, thanks to flash floods this month. People are angry because the government has chosen to go ahead with the controversial project without paying attention to immediate problems like inundation of the underpass.
Mahesh B P, of Sivananda Stores, feels the history of the Cauvery magic box would repeat here. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) closed down the Cauvery magic box after it experienced heavy flooding.
Residents and owners of commercial establishments in Sheshadripuram and Sivananda Circle held a meeting on Friday and decided to submit another memorandum to the state government. They pointed that the last meeting did not yield any positive result.
“The government is not looking at widening the railway underpass. It’s instead keen on constructing the steel flyover. Each time it rains, there is at least three feet of stagnant water,” Mahesh said.
Another resident pointed that a fortnight ago, a man had died just a few metres away from the site. Last week, locals saved a small boy from drowning and being washed away in rainwater.
“The government should give up the idea of constructing the steel flyover and widen the underpass instead. All the rainwater will slide down the flyover slopes and clog the underpass further. This clearly indicates poor planning by the government,” Revathi, who works in a shop, said.
Will build flyover: BBMP
The BBMP, however, said that the steel flyover would be constructed as the government wanted it.
K T Nagaraj, Chief Engineer (Project Central and BSUP), who holds additional charge of road infrastructure, said the flyover construction would start after a month.
“At present, test piling is going on. Once that is completed, the detailed report will be prepared and the foundation stone will be laid. Flooding in the underpass has nothing to do with the BBMP. The ramp will end 80 metres before the underpass. Flooding is because the railways has created a small lend drain. We have written to them to widen it. So, in the coming days, the drain-widening and flyover construction will be carried out simultaneously,” he said.