Carmelaram residents troubled by traffic jams

Trapped in extreme traffic congestion day in and day out, residents of Carmelaram on the city’s outskirts have been desperately waiting for a widened Carmelaram Main Road and a proposed railway overbridge (RoB) to bypass level crossing 132.

The main road is a critical corridor linking Sarjapur Road, Outer Ring Road, Varthur and Gunjur. Thousands of daily commuters, residents and schoolgoing children are forced to put up with the traffic congestion every day.

Deepankar Patnaik, a resident of Carmelaram, complains: “Thousands of people take this route to travel to work and back home. Students also suffer a lot as this is a school and college zone and the buses get stuck at Carmelaram crossing.”

During the peak hours in the morning and evening, he says, the railway level crossing becomes a massive traffic bottleneck.

Traffic gets piled up in Carmelaram stretching up to 1.5 km along all routes leading to the level crossing. “Office commuters and students go through lots of stress on this route for daily travel.”

The residents say they have been approaching the local MLAs, MP and the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to resolve the issue, but there has been no action.

Last year, the residents were promised a railway overbridge at the choke point. The project, they were assured, would be completed within a year. But so far, there is no sign of any work.

Widening the Carmelaram Main Road would offer some relief. “The road is witnessing tremendous traffic growth because of its proximity to all IT parks. The road was dug up before and has not been restored fully. Some stretches on this road are not motorable at all,” informs Patnaik.

Often, sewage overflows on the road, making it extremely pedestrian-unfriendly.

“The stink and dust that residents inhale are utterly disgusting. The BWSSB, BBMP and the railways have to work together to take the drainage line properly. For many years people are suffering because of the lack of urban planning and lack of coordination.”

Member of Parliament P C Mohan had allocated funds for road-widening from the MPLAD scheme. The civic body too is said to have released funds for the same. However, nothing has moved on the ground.