Of 25 traffic junctions, BBMP wants to ‘beautify’ nine that are in excellent shape

Nine of the 25 traffic junctions that the BBMP wants to develop and beautify are already in excellent shape. Only three junctions are really bad while nine others will make do with some repairs.

The civic body has proposed to spend Rs 25 crore on "developing and beautifying" as many traffic junctions. None of them is situated beyond the city's core.

Among the 25 junctions, those in excellent shape are Hudson Circle, NR Square, Town Hall, Brigade Road junction (War Memorial), Mayo Hall junction, Maramma Circle (Malleswaram), Golf Course junction (Opposite Sophia High School), Vidhana Soudha Avenue and Ashoka Pillar Circle. All these junctions are well-paved, landscaped and only need regular maintenance.

Dairy Circle, Sumanahalli and Hebbal junctions are in bad condition and luckily feature on the BBMP list. The civic body also plans to completely revamp Jnanabharathi junction, KH Circle, Gubbi Thotadappa junction, Lalbagh Main Gate (MTR junction) and Cantonment junction.

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One common feature that all these junctions will have is a fountain supplied with treated water.

Landscaping with ornamental plants, installation of bollards, painting, lighting and reorganisation of pedestrian pathways will be other works.

The BBMP has also included some superfluous works such as earth excavation, laying kerbstones and granite stones. In most of these junctions, all these things are already in place.

A BBMP official said the aim was to beautify the core parts of the city under the Brand Bengaluru initiative. He promised that the next phase of the project would cover junctions from the outer areas.

Citizen activists, however, feel the BBMP was "discriminatory" in resource allocation.

"The BBMP should understand that there are people living beyond the central business district. Only the core area gets crores of rupees every year while the rest of the city still suffers from basic problems such as potholes, water scarcity, pedestrian safety, etc," said Abdul Aleem, president of Changemakers of Kanakapura Road, a federation of resident welfare associations. "This is daylight discrimination."

While praising the BBMP's efforts to beautify the city and make vistas nicer, a core member of the Whitefield Rising citizens' group asked the authorities not to ignore the outer areas.

"The core areas get the lion's share of funds when compared to their size and development needs while newly added wards are still asking for the basics — roads, water, streetlights and footpaths," Zibi Jamal said.

She cited the example of Whitefield which contributes the highest tax revenue to the BBMP every year but has few civic amenities.

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