Bengaluru: On a week day the 140 km drive from Bengaluru to Mysore, the hometown of Chief Minister S. Siddaramaiah, is a two-hour smooth drive on state highway 17 lined with paddy and sugarcane fields.
But come the weekend or a holiday and the stretch becomes a nightmare, leaving drivers struggling with bumper to bumper traffic that makes the journey a good four hours as holidaymakers head out to enjoy the many sights Mysore has to offer.
The Heritage City is one of the hottest destinations for techies in search of a short distance getaway owing to its many attractions that include heritage buildings, palaces, the picturesque Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, Mysore Zoo, the Krishnararaja Sagar dam, Chamundi Hills and Balamuri. Its proximity to the Nilgiris biosphere, tiger reserves, and riverside destinations along the Cauvery and Kabini rivers make it a favourite transit point as well.
Tourists heading for Nagarhole, Coorg and Bandipur in the state, Masinagudi and Ooty in Tamil Nadu and Wayanad in Kerala also pass through the city. Not surprisingly, as many as two lakh passenger car units hit the highway on holidays.
Thankfully, the state government has done a splendid job with the road that has stood the test of time. Although eight years old it doesn’t have one bad stretch yet. Some may grumble that the PWD ought not to have been so generous with the road humps, especially from Mandya to Bengaluru, but they can hardly be blamed for the traffic jams that it often witnesses.
The main reason why the serpentine road – first laid by the Wodeyars of Mysore during the British era – sees more traffic than it can handle some days is the absence of bypasses although it cuts through the densely populated towns of Ramanagaram, Chennapatna, Maddur, Mandya and Srirangapatnam.
Motorists are left stranded in traffic pile- ups for about 15 to 20 minutes in each of these towns as holidaymakers head for their favourite destinations. The heaviest traffic jams are seen in Ramanagaram, Channapatna and Mandya which have over 6 kms of the highway passing through them.
A senior PWD official says the problem is a longstanding one. “Though we drew up a plan to make bypasses in 2004 for Ramanagaram, Channapatna and Mandya towns there was huge opposition to it from the local political heavyweights from the Cauvery Basin.
Following these protests, the political will crumbled and the proposal was given a quiet burial. There are plans now to make it a six-lane road and introduce a toll. This should give some respite,’’ he says.
NICE spokesperson Manjunath Naykar has his own solutions. While he feels that bypasses will only add to road length and defeat the purpose of cutting down journey time, he suggests simple design engineering solutions which are also cost effective.
"All we need to do is introduce service lanes in these towns and alienate the highway from local traffic. Also, we could stop criss-crossing of vehicles by grade separation. This has been done successfully on the Nelamangala highway and the Golden Quadrilateral highway,’’ he argues.
Another option could be developing NH 209 connecting Bengaluru, Kanakapura and Sathyamanagala as it touches Mysore near Bannur, say others, pointing out that the distance is almost the same as SH 17. If this road is developed then there will be two highways connecting Bengaluru and Mysore and traffic too will be diverted, they note.
‘Give me 18 months, I will complete expressway’
16 years and you have not given up?
The High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court have upheld the project saying it is in public interest. They have also directed the Karnataka government to implement the project both in letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement. It is unfortunate that there are still certain vested interests creating hurdles and so we had to approach the SC for contempt.
It gave certain directions to the state government along with timelines, but they have not been met. However, with the new stable administration taking over I am hopeful that the project will be expeditiously implemented.
The reason I have not given up is because of the way my mother has brought me up, to uphold values and principles in the interest of society and not to give up under any circumstances if it means that it will benefit the children of Karnataka.
Are you hopeful of completing the project?
We will definitely complete the project. With the recent order of the Karnataka HC which has directed the BMICAPA to approve our applications along with other orders from the SC, we are confident that once land is transferred to us, we will be able to complete the expressway/ toll road component of our project in the next 18 months.
Many say that you have had to enter politics to complete the project.
I entered politics to serve the people of my constituency, Bidar South, which is one of the most backward districts of the country. Since I hail from that constituency and felt the pain of its people who were neglected by politicians elected from a certain family–owned political party, I felt I needed to serve them.
What about accusations of excess land being given for the project and deviations?
The HC of Karnataka and the SC have both said there is no excess land in the project or deviations. It is only some vested interests, who keep repeating these allegations in the hope of saving their ill-gotten land. The ruling of the SC that no land acquired for the BMIC project will be allowed to be alienated in any manner whatsoever should put to a stop to such baseless charges.
Motorists complain that the toll rates are too high.
This is an incorrect assumption since our rates are competitive with other private road service providers in Karnataka. The National Highway toll rates seem cheaper since they adopt a staggered tolling system across the length of the highway.
The single rate system is based on the principle that the persons/vehicles travelling shorter distances should subsidise the longer distance travellers. But on our toll road the users pay only for the distance travelled.
There is a major problem with the road network in Karnataka. How do you suggest we resolve this ?
We had submitted a proposal to develop more than 2,500 kms of road across Karnataka through the Karnataka First Consortium. The proposal involved interlinking of all district headquarters with international standard expressways with interchanges every 25 kms, complete with primary healthcare centers, veterinary clinics, cold storage facilities, food processing industries and regulated markets besides logistics centres catering to more than 30 lakh farmer families along the length and breadth of Karnataka. However there is no response from the state government. We would be glad to work with it to develop and improve the road network of Karnataka.
—Ashok Kheny is MD, NICE and MLA (Bidar-South)
500 cases and a new controversy every day
It was supposed to be a hassle-free, super cruise, a true expressway to Mysore: A 101 kms drive within 90 minutes. But since the Bengaluru Mysore Infrastructure Corridor was proposed in 1997, it has hit a number of roadblocks with 500 court cases filed and a new controversy arising every day.
What has been built is a 41-km peripheral road from Tumkur Road to Hosur Road, and a 9.1 km Link Road from Mysore Road to Somapura interchange, from where the actual expressway was supposed to begin.
Most motorists are happy with the the 75 meter wide peripheral road connecting NH 4, the Bengaluru – Pune road, the Magadi Road, Mysore Road, Kanakapura Road, Bannergatta Road and Hosur Road and the 60 meter wide Link road, connecting the center of the city to the expressway, saying the road work couldn’t be better.
While the development of Interchanges is underway, land has not yet been transferred for the remaining components of the project, which is going nowhere with the political class not willing to give way despite being pulled up by the Supreme Court on several counts.
Wrsit petitions filed by NICEL /NECEL are pending before the High Court of Karnataka on price fixation and delay in approvals by the state government and a contempt petition against the government is pending before the Supreme Court.
