Bengaluru-Mysuru highway bypasses livelihoods

In Channapatna town, stores selling its famed colourful wooden toys, wear a deserted look. In Maddur, known for its vadas, signboards point to shuttered stores. Thousands of vendors — across Ramanagara, Channapatna, Maddur and Mandya — complain that the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway has sounded a death knell for their livelihoods, reducing incomes by at least 60%.

Chandrashekhar, a Channapatna toy vendor, quantifies just how much the income has dropped. “On weekends, the shop saw transactions worth Rs 20,000. Now, we make barely Rs 4,000,” says Chandrashekhar, who owns the premises. “In the past two to three months, many on rent have shut shop,” he says.

Retail workers too are uncertain about their future.

“Footfall has fallen drastically. Travellers en route to Mysuru used to make a pit stop at Channapatna to pick up something,” says Ahmed, a retail worker at the Kaveri toy store.

Babu, Ahmed’s co-worker, says several shops have either cut salaries or have sacked employees.

Also Read | Centre okays Rs 3,575 crore worth highway widening work in Karnataka

“We are now working on daily wages — not knowing if we will have work the next day,” he says.

The 10-lane, 117-km expressway is yet to be inaugurated but is mostly functional. It has 6 bypasses — Bidadi, Ramanagara, Channapatna, Maddur, Mandya and Srirangapatna, all of which are open for traffic now. The total cost of the project will be Rs 9,551 crore.

A driver who frequently uses the Mysuru Road says the trip to Mysuru from Bengaluru would take between three and four hours. “With the expressway, it might take only two hours,” says Vasanth K C. The franchisee of Vasudev Adigas, Adithya D, acknowledges the appeal of reduced time. “We have been affected, but travellers will benefit,” he says.

Researchers who have studied the effects of other expressways, like the one connecting Chennai and Mumbai, for instance, observed a limited engagement to direct services including neighbourhood stores, hotels and other small businesses.

“Due to very few exits, there is limited access to towns. This has a direct impact on these services,” says Chandan M C, assistant professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru.

Along the highway, within a 10 km buffer zone, 20.27% of the land area was urbanised in 2018. In 2021, the urbanised land area had increased to 22.81%. Researchers found that Mandya and Ramanagara, in particular, depended heavily on the road for businesses as they were home to road junctions. In Mandya, for instance, a tea vendor says, “Business has completely fallen. There are even fewer vehicles on the road now.”

The expressway, without doubt, reduces travel time. However, it bypasses several towns that were dependent on road traffic, say owners. The towns are at distances ranging from 1 km to 5 km from bypasses. With traffic already shifting to expressway, vendors fear business will never recover.

Chathura Dhodamane, the owner of the iconic Maddur Tiffany’s, for instance, says the restaurant stands on shaky ground after a decline in business by about 60% to 70%. “Now, travellers will have to drive more than four km to reach Maddur,” he says. Unable to make ends meet, franchisees have also started winding down operations in the town. “Tens of tea shops have disappeared along the Mysuru Road.”

Restaurant owners still hold on to hope that the government would make provision for a safe access road so that visitors could make their way to the town. Others express frustration that these job losses were not accounted for when the plans for the expressway were drafted. “They could have just expanded the present Mysuru Road and allocated us some land on the side. This would have enabled us to work for a living,” says Ahmed.

“We have planned a rest area of 30 acres near Channapatna. It will have access to both sides of the road, and space will be given for restaurants, regional specialty stores and others. I know that people in Mandya, Maddur, Channapatna and Ramanagara are going through difficulties, but we are building an expressway so we can take industries to them and so that they can dream bigger for their children,” says Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha. “The government has started notification process for land acquisition for entry and exit points,” he adds.