Sarjapur Rising, a la Whitefield Rising, to highlight infra issues

Residents of Sarjapur seem to have taken a leaf out of the book of their counterparts in Whitefield. They have come together to form ORR Sarjapur Rising, a citizens’ group on the lines of Whitefield Rising.

The move comes in the wake of the urgent need to fix infrastructure issues in Bellandur ward, such as traffic jams, open drains, pothole-ridden roads, illegal parking of taxi cabs, lack of sidewalks and poorly planned bus stops.

The group has become active in seeking improvement in the conditions of traffic and infrastructure in the ORR (Outer Ring Road) area.

A protest to create awareness among people and to highlight minimum demands to​​ the authorities and the government has been planned at 12 noon on December 18 in the ORR area.

The immediate demands of the ORR Sarjapur Rising are: fix potholes on ORR, Sarjapur Road, service roads; relay all bad roads; sidewalks and skywalks for pedestrians; proper, covered drainage system on arterial and sub-arterial roads; enforce traffic rules to regulate flow at every bottleneck junction on ORR and Sarjapur Road; constitute a committee (of citizens, corporates and government agencies) to improve the ORR Sarjapur corridor.

The group has these long-term demands: release the DPR (Detailed Project Report) for ORR Sarjapur Road and collaborate with the above committee on timelines; identify alternative routes; acquire additional land for roads; widen narrow routes to reduce load on arterial roads; more BMTC buses connecting Sarjapur Road with Varthur, ORR, Hosur Road and Koramangala; plan for mass transit in this corridor such as Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS), monorail or metro; exclusive bicycle lane on highways; committee of citizens, corporates and government agencies to be the communication channel; work together on the short and long-term demands.

The group also wants private companies to actively participate and encourage employees to raise their voice to seek improvement in the infrastructure of ORR-Sarjapur corridor.

Senior management of the companies to be part of ORRCA (Outer Ring Road Companies Association). They will organise meetings with Minister K J George and other authorities to speed up the process and put forth the need for good infrastructure.