Poor planning of underpass irks Shidlaghatta residents

Commuters inconvenienced by impractical work near Idludu Road

Residents staged a protest claiming that the railway underpass near Idludu Road is not being constructed in a practical manner.

The road currently connects Shidlaghatta to Idludu, Dogaranayakanahalli, Kuthandahalli, Kundalagurkige and is one of the busiest roads in the city, but traffic has become inconvenienced because of construction work, residents said.

In addition, they also claim that the underpass itself has been poorly-planned. At the present time, the underpass is being constructed with a width of 6 metres. But residents demand that the underpass must be increased to 15 metres, to enable the smooth flow of traffic.

In addition, residents complain that as the underpass is being constructed in a low-lying area, commuters cannot see vehicles driving from the opposite direction.

As the road also does not facilitate the two-way movement of traffic, it has increased the risk of accidents in the area — especially as school buses form the majority of vehicles in the area.

Other road projects are similarly badly-planned, alleged Munikrishna, the the former president of Town Muncipal Council.

“A service road to Chintamani is being laid next to the underpass. This road will be 10 metres wide but the road seems very narrow. The road has to be atleast 20 metres wide as many heavy vehicles commute in this area,” he said.

According to Munikrishna, private land was being used for the road projects, but said that residents were ready to offer extra land if the quality of the project was assured.

“So far, officers have refused to pay any heed to the suggestion,” he added.
In addition, residents claim that work is moving forward at a snail’s pace, and has not been completed even though it was started one and a half years ago.

Commuters have been seriously inconvenienced by the road work, Munikrishna said.

A temporary road was also not laid for road users during the ongoing construction. Also, as the construction of the underpass and service road are proceeding at tandem, it has aggravated commuters problems, he added.

Authorities had assured the public that the issue would be fixed, but residents complain that nothing has been done — fuelling protests.

B Narayanaswamy, Hareesh, Manjunath, Ramesh, Gangadhar and others participated in the protest.