JOIN US Spend in haste, rethink at leisure, seems to be the dubious dictum with the City corporation. A whopping Rs 20 lakh was spent four years ago for the rotary at K R Circle to ensure ‘smooth’ flow of traffic.
On Thursday, the same was reduced to rubble and traffic lights installed for monitoring vehicle movement.
The re-installation of traffic lights on account of five roads merging at the junction not only puts the already ill-managed corporation in poor light but also reflective of the arbitrary manner the civic officials and corporators function with not an iota of thought seriously spent on wasteful expenditure of tax payers’ money.
The construction of the rotary had so roiled the City’s traffic experts who made no bones about venting their spleen at the ill-planned infrastructure projects being taken up by the BBMP. They had opined that though the rotary construction was actively considered prior to installing a signal, BBMP, however, simply ran roughshod over majority opinion and removed the signal favouring the rotary in its place, an expert said.
The BBMP, before constructing the rotary, had consulted the traffic police, leading to the highly ‘illogical’ construction. The then BBMP Commissioner Subramanya had said the rotary was big enough to carry as much as 9,000 motor vehicles while the expected movement was in the range of 4,000 vehicles.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), M A Salim told Deccan Herald that they had objected to the construction from the very beginning. It was a chaotic location with all five roads merging together without any restriction. The situation would turn so bad that accidents would occur on account of this.
As a result, following deliberations within the traffic department and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) it was decided that traffic signals will again be installed in the location. One other cause of concern on account of the rotary was the unabated traffic flow into Hudson Circle, via Nrupathunga Road.
“With the traffic signal installed at the junction, there will be regulated traffic moving towards Hudson Junction,” opined Salim.