With elections around the corner Bengaluru city has become a beehive of construction activity. As majority of arterial roads are taken up for white topping with no other alternative route, traffic has gone for a toss in the city. Those who used to reach office in an hour are taking almost two hours to reach their destinations. Citizens and experts who are unhappy over this, question BBMP's sudden hurry in white topping the road which is not usually seen with any of its projects.
The grumbles grew as the heavy rain took a toll on the city’s roads a couple of months ago. Then the complaints turned to horror as people lost their lives on the potholed roads. And now it appears the government, which had shown no such urgency in the past, has suddenly decided to respond to the concerns raised and give the city’s roads the much awaited white topping treatment they need to make them more durable.
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With state elections barely a few months away the flurry of activity has come as little surprise to most. While Bengalureans are not complaining about the long overdue makeover their roads are getting whatever may be the government's motivation, they are upset with the authorities lack of concern for their comfort as commuters are having to deal with longer than usual traffic hold-ups on the city’s already crowded roads while the work on white-topping gets underway.
Traffic is no doubt affected by the project but its a short-term pain for long-term benefits. We are making sure that no stretch of road is entirely blocked. The work is being allowed on one lane and traffic is allowed on the other
— R Hithendra,
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic)
The project involves white topping 29 roads and six major junctions covering 93.47 kms at a cost of Rs. 723.71 crore. Going by a BBMP engineer the work will be done in two packages. While package 1 is expected to be completed by June-July, package 2 is scheduled to finish by either the end of July or early August.
Roads up for white topping
With little time to spare, the BBMP men are busy at work on Hosur Road, Mysore Road, Sheshadripuram, and West of Chord Road to name a few. Ask them why the rush, and officials claim the government is serious about doing away with the pothole-ridden roads, which claimed several lives during the heavy downpour of a few months ago.
“The government had to bear public ire over the pathetic condition of the roads and it wants to apply a white topping balm to pacify it. But the contractor has been given just six months to complete the project which is impractical,” they admit.
While the BBMP hurries to meet the government’s deadline, the city has been turned into a virtual construction site, with one lane traffic on several roads making life miserable for commuters. The traffic police has come in for its share of brickbats for allowing white topping of multiple roads simultaneously in a locality without making adequate diversions. For some their 30 to 40 minutes journey is now stretching into an hour-and- a -half.
Describing his ordeal since the white- topping of Hosur road began, a daily commuter, Shivaraj says, “It is difficult for me to commute to the office due to the huge traffic jam near St John's hospital signal. The government wakes up just before the election and now the white topping project, which should have kicked off in phases, has been launched simultaneously leading to traffic congestion.”
Ask Mayor Sampath Raj about the sudden rush to white top the city’s roads and he says it was scheduled to start by September, but was delayed because of the incessant rain..
While acknowledging that traffic has taken a hit owing to the road work, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra says it a small price to pay for such a crucial project with long-term benefits for the city. “Traffic is no doubt affected by the project but its a short-term pain for long-term benefits,” he adds, referring to the better and sturdier Dhanvantari Road, Nrupatunga Road and Kasturba Road, which suffered no damage even after the heavy downpour of September and October.
“We are making sure that no stretch of road is entirely blocked. The work is being allowed on one lane and traffic is allowed on the other,” he says in defence of the arrangements made while the city gets rid of its potholes.
