Walkable footpath: Protest on Jan19 at Sarakki Signal

People living around Sarakki Signal and Kanakapura Road in southern Bengaluru will take out a protest on January 19 against the lack of basic amenities such as footpaths and pedestrian crossings in their neighbourhood.

Kanakapura Road Apartments Movement of Change, an umbrella group of resident welfare associations, has written to the BBMP and the local MLA, highlighting the poor condition of footpaths and how public spaces are being used for parking.

Sarakki Signal is infamously called the second Silk Board junction because of its traffic jams. The intersection seems to be nobody’s child because its four corners belong to four different Assembly constituencies — Bengaluru South, Padmanabhanagar, Jayanagar and Bommanahalli. Besides traffic, the area is beset with bad footpaths. Residents say that when the footpaths were built, ramps were deliberately added to them so that shopkeepers can park there. Guidelines of the Indian Road Congress were also violated while building the footpaths.

Further, with footpaths being occupied by vehicles, it has become difficult for walkers, especially senior citizens and children, to move around, residents say. They want bollards on both the sides of the ramps to prevent traffic from entering the footpaths.

Crossing the busy Sarakki Signal is another ordeal, residents say and want pedestrian crossings. The area doesn’t have proper garbage disposal too. Residents say even when they pay to clean the surroundings, it gets dirtied again.