Secretariat staff want MS Building road closed to public traffic

State secretariat employees on Wednesday urged the Karnataka government to close the road running adjacent to the MS Building to the public saying heavy traffic passing through it is causing regular accidents.

Multi-Storied, or MS, Building is located next to the Vikasa Soudha in central Bengaluru and houses a number of state government departments. The road passing through the MS Building compound is named after former chief minister D Devaraj Urs and connects Basaveshwara Circle with BR Ambedkar Veedhi. It is used by vehicles coming from Sivananda Circle and Sankey Road and going towards Vidhana Soudha, High Court, KR Circle and even South Bengaluru.

The Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees’ Association (KGSEA) says vehicular traffic passing through the road has gone up manifold in the past few years.

Shantaram, joint secretary of the association, reminded the government that the secretariat also comprises MS Building, besides Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha.

“Devaraj Urs Road was opened to the public on a temporary basis after the road between Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha was closed in 2001-02. But the government has since forgotten to provide an alternative thoroughfare to the public. This has put enormous pressure on employees working in MS Building,” he said.

Things have gone so bad that three employees have been killed in road accidents on the stretch in as many years, he added. “Walking on the road while carrying files between different departments is risking one’s life,” he said.

Vehicle users, however, feel the problem can be easily solved by managing traffic rather than closing the road to the public.

“At any given point in time, many official cars are parked on the road, blocking nearly half of the carriageway. There are also hawkers on the road. All this leads to crowding and chaos,” said Muniraju, a regular commuter.