BWSSB adds to the misery of pedestrians on Wind Tunnel road

Bengaluru: When nearly four months ago BWSSB dumped massive-sized pipes on footpath, residents and commuters on Wind Tunnel Road ignored it, assuming it was another routine work of the board. However even after months, the BWSSB has not looked back, the corporator is callous and pedestrians are literally ‘left on the streets’.

Since the huge pipes have encroached upon the footpaths over 2 km distance, pedestrians are often forced to walk on the main road, while the traffic movement is already slow due to bad conditions of the road.

Mallesh.H, a resident, said, “None of the roads in the city are pedestrian-friendly, but the Wind Tunnel Road is not safe even for vehicle users.

We don’t know why the pipes are dumped from so many months while schoolchildren and senior citizens are risking their lives by walking on the main road. The peak hours are a nightmare.”

The poor condition of Wind Tunnel Road is not limited to the footpath encroachment alone. The road in Challaghatta leading to Embassy Golf Links Campus has been dug up and it badly slows down traffic movement.

Chiranth.M, a techie working at an office in Embassy Golf Links, said, “It takes more than 30 minutes to cross 1 km. The vehicle movement has become terribly slow since the width of the road has reduced due to the bad conditions. Thousands of vehicles move on this road, but it has been reduces to a narrow stretch.”

Sayali Mukherjee, a resident of Murgeshpalya, complains that even streetlights are not working on Wind Tunnel Road and it’s dangerous to walk after dark.

“Since vehicles cannot spot pedestrians walking on the road there have been many incidents when pedestrians have almost been hit by moving vehicles. In some cases, we have seen bikers hitting potholes in the dark,” she said.

“The streetlights have been in on-off working conditions for many months and for the last few weeks they have completely stopped working. All our complaints to the local corporator have fallen on deaf ears,” she added.

The residents say that they have posted complaints even on neighbourhood websites and government websites in order to get the officials’ attention, but nothing has paid off.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) management has paid to the BWSSB for Cauvery water connection. However, under the pretext that tenders have not been awarded for the works, the BWSSB has not started laying the pipes.

In the last meeting with the BWSSB, we discussed about this work. The BWSSB officials remained clueless. For now, we have hit a dead-end, until the works began.

The BBMP officials have to be held responsible for this condition and I don’t have the solution for all the problems in my ward.