Lies, damned lies and statistics of BBMP

 However, the residents in the area maintain that they had been kept in the dark.
The authorities of the East West School located on the road dispute the claim that they consented to the BBMP scheme of Transferable Development Rights (TDR). School managing trustee B N K Sarathi denies settling for TDR. He says it was not feasible for the school to add additional floors on the top of the existing main school building.

“We have not received any official communication and do not know the extent of land that will be taken away,” Sarathi says. He complains that the BBMP was handling the project in an authoritarian manner.

“They send someone who claims to be an official and demands to see property documents of the school.”

But this is not what the school fears the most. Principal Anasuya Ramachandran is anxious about the students’ safety, owing to the intrusion of passersby. After the wall of the school compound was demolished, pedestrians had started walking through its premises as a footpath that existed there has vanished.

There has been no public hearing as a prelude to the project work. “Till date, we have not received any official notice regarding the project,” says C R Gopinathan, who lives nearby.

The residents are apprehensive that they may have to surrender three-foot wide stretches of their property for widening of the footpaths. They face hardship also from the dust and noise associated with the construction work. Vasanth Kumar, a resident, says: “We have raised many issues against the construction, but no action has been taken. This is a political game that we are caught in and we will need a hundred Anna Hazares to get us out of it.”

Most residents believe that the project was unnecessary and the traffic problems had increased since the construction began.

Vijay Kumar, who lives in Gandhi Bazaar, believes that the underpass was an investment made without a comprehensive research of the demography of the area.

“Basavanagudi is only a transit point for the traffic coming from JP Nagar, Jayanagar, KR Road and other places. If only they had built a flyover instead, the beauty of the old structures of Basavanagudi would have remained intact,” he says.

Many fear that the underpass will create bottlenecks elsewhere.

Even autorickshaw drivers are sceptic on the project. One of them, Lokanath, says, “This construction is being done only for money.”

The traffic police on the other hand stress that it would help ease traffic and save a lot of time for motorists. According to them, the underpass would be ready for use by April-end.

A petrol pump located close to the spot has a major worry. Squeezed out by the construction, vehicles have started intruding on its territory. Manjunath, an employee at the pump, fears that the constant, heavy flow of vehicles might damage the fuel pipelines underneath, portending grave danger.


Kathyayini Chamaraj
Civic Bangalore

The rules of the RTI Act were never followed while executing the Tagore Circle Underpass project. Thelegislation prescribes that the project details should be put in the public domain.

Lokananath
Auto driver

The work has been going on for a long time now, and nothing can be said on its completion. I don’t think there was a need for an underpass in the area, but given the heavy traffic, the authorities must have thought it necessary. I hope the work will be completed fast and the traffic problems eased.

H Ravindra
Chairperson, BBMP Standing Commitee (Major Works)

Acquisition of private land was not on the agenda at the beginning of the project. It was decided later by the High-Powered Standing Committee chaired by the chief secretary. We are not razing any building, but only acquiring compound walls.

Manjunath
Petrol bunk employee

After the work started, traffic has started flowing into our area and there is a constant movement of vehicles on our pump’s fuel pipelines. There’s a fear of explosion and it’s posing a big danger.