JOIN USTraffic chaos reigns on many streets
Commuters on Tuesday morning woke up to a traffic nightmare as the busy 1.5-km stretch of road between Bangalore Dairy and Hosur Road checkpost was closed for white-topping, leading to a gridlock that stretched to over five km.
The traffic police had refused to grant clearance for the project when officials first approached them two years ago. However, the civic body pressed on and got the clearance recently. The closure of the key thoroughfare comes at a time when metro construction work has already paralysed traffic around the area.
As the stretch is a crucial link connecting the southern and southeastern parts of the city with the core area and the central business district, commuters had a tough time.
As a result, traffic on Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Sarjapur Road, Central Silk Board and Madiwala junctions came to a near halt in the peak hours.
It was bumper-to-bumber traffic on Dairy Circle-Hosur Road, Brigade Road-Hosur Road and Hosur Road to Bannerghatta Road. Traffic on the road towards Madiwala and Electronics City flyover came to a standstill.
Sunil Kumar, a resident near Dairy Circle said the closure had a ripple effect as far as Jayanagar. He said the 12-km length of roads around Hosur Road were jam-packed.
“This is an indication of the callous manner in which the public are being looted and hoodwinked in the name of development,” he said, adding that BBMP must prominently display a board clearly stating the proposed timelines, cost of the work and the name of the contractor executing the project.
Ramesh B Rao, a senior executive of a private company said it took him more than an hour to travel from Jayanagar to St John’s Medical College. “I need to travel to Electronics City and I am not sure if I can reach there by afternoon,” he said.
Many ambulances too were struck in the traffic. The traffic detours were of little help as the alternative roads too were congested due to metro work.
K V Jagadish, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) said: “We are trying our best to manage the traffic. People have no choice but to cooperate as white-topping is an important infrastructure work.” The previous Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hitendra had taken BBMP officials to task over traffic congestion along Hosur Road due to white-topping works near Anepalya junction in December 2017. The work on one side of the carriageway near Dr Marigowda Road is expected to be completed in two months.